Anything For You
by octaviuscprime
Summary: Marissa Lennox has always been a handful for her brother so it only seems right to dump her on Ironhide and the other bots! Primus forbid Megatron ever has to deal with her! Really, she's worse than both sets of twins. Poor Will and 'Hide!
1. Chapter 1

Oops! Almost forgot to put a little note up here! Tell me how you like it, reviews are always appreciated! Sorry if Marissa or anybody gets out of character! With Marissa it'll be hard because she is so crazy! A lot of the stuff she does relates to the stuff I do with my friends so I have a lot of material for her antics! She can be very childish sometimes but she also has a darker, tougher side. Super protective, hilarious, insane, acts before thinking, loves kids- seems like the perfect match for 'Hide doesn't she? Hahaha

Chapter 1

Worse Than the Twins?

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

Major Will Lennox sat up in his bed with a groan. His wife Sarah lay next to him. She had been asleep but the sound of Will expressing his unhappiness awakened her. She frowned up at him, obviously concerned. "What's wrong? I thought you enjoyed your job." Will looked at her fondly. "That's not it, besides, what's better than working with giant robots?" Sarah gave her husband a sour look. "I could think of plenty of safer jobs. Anyways..." Will put his face in his hands. "Marissa is coming today," he said, sounding as if he were doomed. Sarah laughed at his expense and crawled out of bed, getting ready for the day. "Oh, come on! She loves you-even if you are probably the world's most annoying brother." Will swung his feet out of bed and stood, stretching. Sarah could be heard, rummaging through her closet. "I'm actually glad she's coming now. I'm in need of a shopping trip," she said mischievously. Will walked towards the bathroom saying: "I don't get it, you say I'm the annoying one even though every time she catches sight of a mall it's like listening to a cat getting ready for a fight." Sarah quickly reached for a shoe-not one of her good ones though-and tossed it towards his voice, hearing him chuckle as it hit the door. Will called out to her: "all I'm saying is that it's you're funeral!"

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

Ironhide watched his charge warily as he stood in bipedal mode across the hanger. Major Lennox seemed distracted while talking to his superiors, which was always a bad sign. The weapons specialist knew that he was usually very professional when speaking to the General or Defense Secretary Keller so he decided to question him about it once he had finished. He turned his attentions to the other bots in the room. Optimus Prime was with Lennox, the twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were trying to look innocent by the hanger doors, and Arcee and Moonracer were standing as well as they could on their single legs with one wheel for a foot chattering in the Autobot's native language, Cybertronian. Ironhide felt his spark sag for a moment until he heard Lennox's cellphone ringing. "Oh, sorry General, it's my wife, excuse me for a moment." The Major walked away from Prime and the General towards Ironhide. "Hey hon', yah I'm in a meeting but I can try to wrap it up. Anything for my baby girl." Ironhide's spark hummed contentedly now at the thought of the Lennox's baby girl Annabelle. He would do anything for her, same as he would for Sarah Lennox and his charge. He hated the thought of them being involved in the war against the Decepticons, though he took reassurance in the fact that Megatron was sitting in the bottom of the ocean. **However**, he growled to himself, **Starscream and some other fragging 'Cons are still on the loose**. His thoughts were then interrupted by a loud exclamation from Lennox.

"She's here ALREADY?!" Ironhide stepped towards his charge with concerned optics as said charge told his wife 'goodbye' and pocketed the phone with haste. The Major raced back over to the Prime and the General with Ironhide following quietly behind him. "I really sorry sirs but I have a _family_ problem at the moment." The General nodded and said: "Understood, we'll finish this some other time, Prime?" Optimus looked down at the small human and asked in his booming voice: "Is 0900 hours tomorrow agreeable to you?" The human nodded and walked away. Ironhide acknowledged the Prime and asked Lennox: "Who is here already?" Lennox shook his head irritably. "My sister, Marissa. I have to warn you though, she is the most annoying, stubborn thing on two legs." Optimus kneeled down to the human, probably so he could talk to the human better but Ironhide figured it was so two certain bots couldn't hear him after he heard what his Prime had to say. "I was under the impression that the twins fit that description." Lennox snorted in laughter but cleared his throat as Sunstreaker and his brother shot him a questioning look. "Nope, she is much worse."-the two bots above him shuddered-" I could tell you of the millions of crazy things she's done but that would take hours." Ironhide gave Optimus a hopeful look, which was quite the feat considering he was made of metal. "Were not going to tell this femme about us are we? The last thing we need is another Sunstreaker or Sides running around the base!" Optimus stood up straight and addressed Ironhide as only a leader could. "I have already spoken to Major Lennox and Defence Secretary Keller about this. The human femme will be made aware of our presence. And you, Ironhide will be the first to show yourself at the Lennox's farm, you are the Lennox's guardian aren't you?" The Prime raised his optic brow, something he had picked up the humans around the base. Ironhide made no other comments to his leader and looked down at the ground hastily muttering "Slag!" He then turned his optics onto his charge. "You ready to go?"

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

Marissa Lennox tickled her niece, causing her to giggle loudly and uncontrollably. "Auntie 'Rissa! Stop! I have to go..." Marissa laughed manically. "Where do you think you're going to go?" The little girl struggled to get free and ran from the living room to her mother. "Annabelle, I'm trying to make some lunch. Go play outside with your Aunt for Mommy OK?" Sarah went back to kitchen and Marissa took the girl's hand, heading to the back door. "We'll go for a walk in the cornfield ok? Maybe we can find a ripe ear of corn for your supper tonight," she said making sure Sarah could hear her. Sarah nodded, even though they wouldn't be able to find a ripe one this time of year. Marissa knew that as long as it kept her energetic niece busy long enough for Sarah to finish preparing lunch no one was going to argue. She followed the girl down the porch steps and shook her head as Annabelle started running wildly into the cornfield. "Annabelle, come back! Wait for Aunty 'Rissa!" She started running among the stalks, listening for the girl's squeals. "Annabelle, COME HERE!" Marissa yelled louder, panic clenching her heart as the squeals stopped. They were quite a ways into the field by now, and she couldn't begin to imagine what had happened. She slowed down to a stop and tilted her head, trying to hear her niece. As soon as she heard a whimper of to her left she bounded past the stalks, some hitting her face giving her a scratch. "ANNABELLE!" She stopped again to listen and heard a call somewhere in front of her. "Aunty 'Rissa!" Marissa went towards the voice once again and sighed with relief when she saw her sitting down on the ground, with a terrified look on her face. "Aunty, I was scared! And lost! You found me!" Marissa bent down and picked her down. **Darn, cute kids... **"Yeah, and you better not do it again, I was scared too. You stay with me, Daddy or Mommy when you're outside, OK?" When the girl nodded, she jokingly told the girl: "Because if you don't, I'll tickle you 'till you do listen!" She attacked the girl in her arms, poking her tummy and tickling her sides. The girl squealed shrilly and jumped to the ground. Marissa's attention was grabbed by a sudden roaring sound behind her. She turned around, trying to decipher the noise when she muttered to herself. "Is that an engine?..." Realization leaped into her eyes and she grabbed Annabelle in her arms, holding her tight. She would have run but fear kept her rooted to the spot until she snapped out of it and just as she started to run, a large vehicle braked to a stop in front of her.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

Ironhide and Lennox drove down a road with a cornfield on one side and pastures on the other. Will thought about his sister as they neared his house. She was five years younger then him and acted like it, loved Annabelle, but was a trouble maker. She was, by fault, a very curious person and two times more mishevious than the Lambo twins. Her most memorable stunt was jumping off of a bus and landing on the top of a moving car in answer to a dare and her biggest prank was covering _everything_ with bubble wrap in her highschool (even the outside.) He and the rest of the family had hoped she would calm down when she graduated but she ended up going to a military school like himself and got kicked out. **She almost made it too, the last semester**, he mused to himself. "William!" Ironhide's voice yelled over the radio. "My audio receptors have picked up Annabelle's scream! She is in the cornfield!" Will jumped in seat as Ironhide drove off the road straight into the cornfield. "'Hide! You sure you heard her?" Ironhide's engine roared as he plowed down the stalks in front of him. Will grew afraid for his little girl. **She might be in danger! Decepticons could have attacked the house! **"Annabelle!" Will screamed her name out the window, hoping she was OK. If Ironhide heard her she had to be out here, the weapons specialist's hearing was better than any normal humans ears. Suddenly, the truck started slowing down and Will's seatbelt tightened. Will grabbed at the seatbelt, trying to get it off. **Oh no, he was not going to keep ****_him_**** from getting involved!**

Ironhide saw with surprise, a human femme standing in front of his alt mode. He growled when he realized the femme was holding Annabelle. He put the brakes on and stopped in front of them. The human femme started yelling at him, cussing him out. "Hey, asshole! I don't appreciate your driving! What do you fucking think you're doing? Driving into a motherfucking cornfield?! You could have run us over!" Ironhide activated his holoform and stepped out of the truck. He walked over to the femme, his anger rising. "I advise you to watch your language around the girl. What are you doing with her anyways?" Ironhide's demanding tone seemed to have taken the femme off guard. She recovered quickly. "What am I doing with her? What makes you able to ask that question? Do you even know her?" The femme put down the little girl and stepped in front of her, looking for all the world she was about to slug his holoform. Lennox was at the moment glancing nervously out the tinted windshield and struggling to get the seatbelt off him. Ironhide's voice came through the radio. "Stay put William. I will retrieve Annabelle, this human femme might be a Decepticon Pretender." Lennox rolled his eyes and beat on the truck's dash. "'Hide, that's my sister!" The holoform's eyes widened and the seatbelts released Lennox. He opened the door of the truck and rushed to his sister, picking up Annabelle. "Will?" The femme looked in confusion from Ironhide's holoform to the Major. "Who is this guy?" Lennox didn't pay any attention to his sister and told his daughter sternly: "If I ever hear you repeat any of the words your Aunt said to 'Hide you will be grounded for a whole month." The little girl nodded, seeming sincere then turned to her amusing Aunt. Ironhide had looked up the meaning of nieces and aunts but did not like the idea of this femme around the Lennox's daughter. Lennox glared at his sister. "What were you doing out here?" The femme now changed her expression of confusion to apologetic. "Sarah asked me to take her outside for a walk but this little ankel-biter ran off." She stuck out her tongue at the little girl then glanced back at the holoform. "Who's he? And how did you guys know we were out here?" Ironhide stepped forward and attempted to stare down the femme, resulting in his holoform's toes getting stomped on. "Hey, back off Sasquatch!" Ironhide looked down at his holoform's foot, which had started to throb, also, in the process of looking down he noticed the femme's heavy combat boots which surprisingly looked a lot cooler than his own, with studs lining the black leather. He found himself noticing what the human femme was wearing. She had thick black cargo pants, a grey camo tank top, and a blue denim jacket. **Primus, I wouldn't even know what these articles were if I hadn't gone shopping with Sarah so much! **Sarah enjoyed taking Ironhide with her on shopping trips and had wasted no time in instructing him on human clothing. He was confused on the femme's _style _though. He didn't know if she had a military background but she wore much of the same articles as human femmes on the NEST base did.

** Hey, would you stop undressing me with your eyes!** Marissa wanted to yell at the large man in front of her. Of course, was she any better when she first saw him? Despite her anger at him she was taken aback at his large muscles that seemed alive when he moved his arms. His muscle shirt seemed to be molded to his skin and his blue jeans showed off his hips. **Nom, nom, nom**, she thought to herself and giggled. That seemed to have caught the guy's attention again. He gave her a 'something funny' glare and started to open his mouth to speak before Will cut him off. "We heard her squealing, are you forgetting this is _the_ Annabelle?" Marissa smiled at the little girl, if you tickled her enough she could wake up the distant neighbors at three am. Marissa shot another look at the guy across from her pointedly and Will coughed a little. Apparently the bodybuilder took this as a cue to introduce himself. "I work with William, my code name is Ironhide,"he said curtly. Marissa rolled her eyes. "Codename? You serious?" 'Ironhide' went to say something but was interrupted once again. "I-on-ide!" Marissa looked with surprise at Annabelle as the youngster reached her arms out to the big guy and laughed happily. She was even more surprised when Will handed the kid to him. Annabelle curled up in Ironhide's arms, chattering about anything and everything as the presumably tough guy gazed at her fondly. Will chuckled, receiving a good-natured shove from Ironhide. Marissa could not believe that the guy who had tried to stare her down melted in the Annabelle's gaze. It was cute, the way she reached up to touch his chin while telling him about her escapade in the cornfield. Will pointed to the truck and Ironhide took the little girl to the backseat. Will climbed in to the passenger seat and Marissa hurried to the other side of the truck to sit in the back seat beside Annabelle. She smiled when she saw Ironhide buckling her into a car seat and kissed her forehead before shutting the door and getting into the driver seat. **Maybe this Ironhide guy isn't so bad... **Marissa mused to herself again, **and he sure is cute!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Surprise!

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000

Ironhide pulled into the Lennox's driveway and cut his alt mode's engine. Lennox climbed out of the truck and went around to the other side to unbuckle Annabelle. The human femme who he had found out was named Marissa climbed out as his holoform's boots hit the ground. Marissa walked past the truck, trailing her fingers over the doors and tapping the door handles. He hitched his breath as the trucks frame shook a little. He glanced quickly at the human to see if she had noticed but she was already walking over to where Lennox stood, staring at the other car in the driveway. Ironhide looked at it with approval, it was a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with a pristine garnet red paint job. **A little too classic for me, but human vehicles are incredible. **He looked fondly at his alt mode and turned back to the car. Lennox had put Annabelle down and was at the moment devouring the car with his eyes. "Wow, you said you had a cool ride but I didn't expect this! How did you get it?" Marissa tilted her head, smiling and put her hand on top of the car's roof proudly. "She was beaten up pretty bad and her owner couldn't do anything with her. He told me if I could fix her I could have her, so here she is." Lennox nodded his head and asked: "have you decided to work as a mechanic yet? Marissa shook her head and looked down at the car's tires. "No, I was kinda hoping to..um..." Lennox looked concerned and took hold of his sister's arm. "What? What did you want to do?" Marissa smiled at her brother and exclaimed: "I'm joining the army!" Ironhide coughed, surprised, but that was nothing compared to Lennox's reaction. "Really? That's great! You can do your training at the base! I'm sure the General would allow it!" Marissa got an excited look on her face. "That's awesome! Thanks Will!" Sarah then came outside, Annabelle following her. "Hey hon' what's all the excitement about?" Lennox quickly told his wife and Annabelle caught sight of Ironhide leaning against his alt mode. He winked at her, a human action that he had picked up on very quickly. It was their thing now, an unspoken hello. She winked back and ran over to him. "Uncle I-on-ide! Mommy made lunch! There are sandwiches and lemonade! Are you going to eat this time?" Ironhide smiled warmly at her and picked her up. "No, not this time. You better eat though." He made a funny face at her and she giggled. "We are eating outside, will you sit by me?" Ironhide nodded and put her down, walking over to the picnic table.

Marissa was happy that she had told her brother about her wish to join the army and was surprised he hadn't said no. Of course Sarah wasn't happy about it though, she only just put up with Will's job. Will had gone inside to help her bring the food outside so Marissa was left by herself. She watched Ironhide talk to Annabelle and found it strange once again that the tough guy was a softie around Annabelle. He seemed to adore her and paid close attention to her when she talked to him, which she enjoyed no doubt. Any other time the guy was a brick wall. Suddenly she heard yelling from the house and noticed the big guy stiffen. She watched with concern as he motioned for Annable to stay where she was and got up from the table, running to the door of the house. Marissa also, more out of curiosity than anything walked over as well. "Get out Roxy! SHOO!" Sarah came out the door, chasing a furry, black and white Border Collie. Sarah turned back to the open door and yelled back into the house: "Come here Eli! You too!" Marissa laughed as her Border Collie and blue Pit Bull ran away from Sarah, trying to escape her wrath. "Come here you two! What have you done this time?" Marissa chased after the two dogs, whooping loudly at them. The dogs soon turned around and gave chase to her though and she did a cart-wheel and rolled onto the ground, giggling as the dogs licked her face and her hands. Surprisingly she felt someone grip her wrist tightly and pull her up on her feet. She gasped at the sudden movement and found herself face to face with Ironhide. One look at his worried and confused face sent her into hysterics though and he roughly let go of her wrist. "What is so funny? I thought you were being attacked by those canines?" Marissa took a few deep breaths and gave him a funny look. "Those dogs? They wouldn't hurt anybody if their lives depended on it. They're big softies!" She noticed how Ironhide glanced nervously at the dogs who were now rolling in the attention Annabelle was giving them. "You're not _afraid_ of dogs are you?..." Ironhide gave her a dark look and she in turn gave him a sly look and called to the dogs. They bounded over to her and started to jump up to lick her face. "Down you two! Come on! Sit!" Both dogs sat still but looked at the two people in front of them with longing. "OK, pet them." She laughed a little at his surprised face and reached her own hand out to pet the dogs in turn on the top of their heads, scratching behind their ears as an added bonus for the canines. Ironhide shook his head and quickly stepped back, but Marissa grabbed his arm. She was surprised when he flinched at her touch. Now she was actually concerned. She also noticed that his eyes were an intense bright blue. It was the first time she had really looked at his face. **His muscles are huge! **He also had a large scar running down the left side of his face. She spoke to him softly:"just pet them, they wont bite." She pulled him forward and took his hand, bringing it to Eli's head.

Ironhide did _not _want to touch the dog, but the human's voice was very nice. He would never forget Mojo, that little rat had scared him for life. **Still haven't got the rust off my foot!** It had surprised him when the human grabbed his arm, he had expected he would hate it but it was actually soothing and reassuring. His processor had almost glitched when he felt the soft fur on the dog's head. Now he was scratching it behind the ears. He glanced at the human beside him. He would have to ask Lennox more about her. **I am going to be protecting her aren't I? **Optimus had made it clear he would be a guardian for the _whole_ Lennox family- not that he didn't enjoy it. A shrill voice caught his attention. "Aww, 'Hide! Eli likes you already!" Sarah came outside, holding a stack of paper plates, her husband had his hands full with a platter of sandwiches. Ironhide walked away from the dog and took the platter from him, carrying it to the picnic table so Lennox could go back inside to get the lemonade. Marissa sat at the table with Annabelle and he sat on the other side of the little girl. Sarah gave him a knowing smile, not handing him a plate. He watched with boredom as the family ate, though sometimes Annabelle required help getting to her glass. Marissa told Lennox and Sarah more about her decision to join the army. "I want to be a Small Arms/Artillery Repairer. I've worked with repairing guns before so it shouldn't be to hard." Lennox smiled at Ironhide, knowing it was part of his specialty. "Really? Because 'Hide is a weapons specialist! He could help you, right 'Hide?" Ironhide grunted. **Not in your short lifetime**. Sarah shot them glares. "I think we should hurry up with lunch, Marissa, Will has to tell you something afterwards." Marissa nodded, apparently not puting too much thought into it. Ironhide wondered how she would react. Thanks to Sarah the meal was hurried and she and Marissa took care of taking the stuff back in the house. He heard a lot of laughing inside and gave Lennox a strange look. "What are they-" Lennox quickly cut him off, holding up his hand. "Don't ask. Girl stuff." Ironhide rolled his holoform's eyes. "So, you ready to show her, because I'm not," Lennox asked him. He just sighed, optics travelling to Annabelle who was playing with the dogs. He couldn't help but think about how Marissa's voice had sounded when she got him to pet them. He didn't think he'd ever heard anything that beautiful. **Wait, what? Beautiful?**

"OK, here it is, Ironhide is from a planet called... What is it again?" Will looked over to the weapons specialist. The two were standing in front of Marissa, who was leaning against her car, Sarah and Annabelle played on a swing set across the yard. "Cybertron. I am what's known as an Autobot. There are also others who come from Cybertron called Decepticons. We Autobots are at war with them, unfortunately the war has moved here to Earth so we have to protect you squishy humans," Ironhide explained. Marissa snorted. "Wow, Will, I never thought you to be the pranking type. Including your big friend." Ironhide stepped forward menacingly. "I am a lot bigger than you think 'shorty'. You want to see? Because I'd be happy to show you." Marissa gave him a 'not impressed look' and waved her hand. "Fine, show me." Will grabbed Ironhide's shoulder to pull him back, only to have it disintegrate. Marissa's eyes got as big as saucers. "Did he just..." Her attention was turned to the black truck in front of them. The truck shifted, and metal pieces started moving around making a strange sound. The truck was now a giant robot looking down at the tiny humans. "Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Marissa turned around quickly and reached far into the open window of her car. The robot watched her then its large blue eyes grew wide. It turned its head to Sarah, who picked Annabelle up saying: "Come on dear, your Aunt is losing a little bit more of her mind." The two reached the house's door as Marissa turned back from her car, pointing a Glock 20 10mm handgun at the robot. "What the fuck?! You had a loaded gun under your seat!" Will stood still yelling at her, his eyes furious. The robot did not like it either. It swiftly picked the human up in its hand. It roared at her: "you dare point a gun at me?!" Marissa looked at the robot, fear written in her eyes. "Yeah!" As she yelled she raised the gun to the robot's face and pulled the trigger.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000

"I still can't believe you shot me." Ironhide's voice came through the black truck's radio. Marissa sat in the passenger seat looking cross. "Well what do you expect? It's not like I was just going to act calm and ask you if you'd like a spot of tea." Will chuckled in the backseat. "Hey 'Hide, is your eye any better yet?" Ironhide growled over the radio. "No, it hasn't been for a while thank you very much. It doesn't help that your crazy sister shot it!" That sent Will into hysterics. Even though she had probably hurt him, Marissa wasn't one bit sorry. **How could he drop something like that on me? Sure its cool and all, giant robots and such, but seriously? **"I can't wait to meet the dingbat that thought it was a good idea to tell me. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind you know." Ironhide grumbled a little. "I wasn't too happy about letting you in on the secret either but Optimus insisted." They rode in silence for a little while and Marissa decided to take advantage of that and stared out the window thinking. She still couldn't believe there were giant robots roaming around and killing each other. She had been afraid of Ironhide and wanted nothing more than to kill him for the threat he appeared to be. Will had calmed her down while Ironhide presumably yelled at her but only made weird clicking noises, with occasional human profanity. She seemed OK now but underneath it all she was still freaking out a little. **And I still have to meet the rest of them. Hope none of them are hardasses like 'Hide. **She noticed they were now past the city limits and getting farther. Then she remembered something. "Hey 'Hide, since I might start training at the base me and you will be getting to know each other real well, if my career has anything to do with yours." She was surprised when his gruff voice spat out rather quickly: "it doesn't" Marissa looked back at Will curiously. Will nodded and told her: "yeah, the bots won't give us any of their tech, so I doubt you'll see him much." She laughed a little at her next remark. "Well, all the same. Can't say I'm too upset. Who wants cranky around anyways?" Will laughed and Ironhide's voice came again. "We're not even sure Prime or the General will allow it. Primus forbid they do..."

Ironhide drove into the hanger slowly. The human femme inside him looked out the window with awe. Five of the bots were standing in their bipedal modes already and all were congregating in front of a raised platform that stood at around waist-high for most of them. Marissa opened his truck door and stepped out, Lennox right behind her. She was still looking up at them, her mouth hanging open. Lennox led her to a stairwell and they climbed up to the platform. Ironhide transformed and stepped over to the side of the platform. He watched the Prime bring his face close to the human and spoke in his booming voice. "I am Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. I presume you are Marissa Lennox." Marissa stared at him for a moment and turned to Will with an amazed and frightened look. "The giant robot knows my name." Lennox almost fell over laughing at her and Ironhide found himself chuckling a little as well. The other bots did not find it funny though, notably Ratchet. "We are not _just_ robots Ms. Lennox," Ratchet scoffed. Ironhide saw her stiffen at the other's tone and she turned around to face the bots again. Optimus stepped back and motioned to all the bots as he named them. "This is Ratchet, our medic"-he pointed to the yellow bot-"and this is Jazz, my second in command." A silver bot stepped forward and waved its servo at her. Optimus stepped to the side so she could see the others better. Optimus introduced Elita one, a femme with pink armor and a purple femme named Arcee who both smiled kindly at her. Ironhide felt his spark sag once more. **She should be here... **He listened as Optimus spoke to Marissa some more, not really caring what was said until he heard something about training. "There is a meeting tomorrow morning, I will speak of it to the General then. I trust that you, William have not forgotten about the meeting with all the excitement?" Lennox shook his head and the Prime turned to the others. "Autobots dismissed. Elita rolled forward and addressed him before he could leave though. "Optimus, I would like permission to take Marissa with my sister for a tour of the base. And afterwards I would like to speak to you." The Prime nodded. "Permission granted, and I'll be there." Ironhide shook his head at the two, everyone knew they were a couple, even if they tried to hide it. It was not out of embarrassment though, he knew. Prime still wanted to appear the leader is all and Elita tended to hinder that. He chuckled at the memories from Cybertron when they expressed themselves freely. Humans tended to be a little controversial though.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry if this chapter is a little crappy, the next one will be better I promise! The part with Elita One and Arcee is there because they are going to be friends :D and Marissa also hits it off pretty quickly with the twins. 'Hide gets in trouble a little but in the next chapter the two become 'friends'. I had a lot of trouble with this chap, I kept rewriting it and just finally got tired of it. Also, the part with Jamie really happened to me and my friends. 'dem' is how she said 'them' just to be silly. they really need to finesse their English language skills! To all you non Americans or non British readers, we hardly know how to speak our own language correctly! I wouldn't be surprised if one of you could speak it better than us! Soooo, hope you like it! Read n' Review!

Chapter 3

New Friends and Old Friends

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000

Elita and Arcee had introduced Marissa to Skids, Mudflap, and Jolt and showed her pretty much all of the base. They talked among themselves, answering her questions from time to time while heading to the med bay."What is that clicking noise you guys make sometimes, Marissa asked. Elita answered her kindly, "its how we speak in our own language. Sometimes we forget you humans can't understand us though." Marissa nodded, understanding. "Whats a femme and a mech?" "It's what we call females and males of our species." "Can you guys reproduce?" Elita stopped wheeling forward on her single tire that took the place of feet. "Yes, in a way. We possess no interfacing equipment, it is more emotional than physical. Cybertronian children are called sparklings and they are created inside the femme's spark." Marissa thought about the new information for a moment and started walking forward again. Arcee nodded in her direction. Would you like a ride for the rest of the way? It's on the other side of the base." Marissa nodded eagerly, wanting to see what the purple bot in front of her transformed into. She watched in pure amazement as the bot became a sleek purple motorcycle. Elita also transformed, into the same make as well, the only difference being the color. Marissa climbed onto Arcee and grabbed the handlebars. As soon as she did the bike beneath her started up and sped up to a speed fast enough to make her hair fly behind her. "Are you comfortable with going a little faster? I would like to show you something," Arcee's voice floated up to her. "Sure! Do anything you want, I love bikes!" The purple bike passed up Elita with her new burst of speed, dodging military vehicles with precision. Marissa screamed with joy when the bike beneath her raised her front tire into the air. With a backwards glance behind her she saw Elita gaining on them and it wasn't long before she was right beside them. "Climb on! I can show you a cooler trick than that!" Marissa looked bewildered at the pink bike. "Right now?!" The two bikes were still moving at an amazing speed but Elita shouted back to her: "yes! Don't worry we won't let you fall!" Marissa nodded her head and bravely stood up on Arcee and outstretched her leg until her foot touched the seat of the other bike. Thankfully both stayed kept going at identical speeds as she put her weight on her right foot and swung her left leg over, keeping her arms outstretched for balance. She stood straight up on Elita and bowed her head, keeping her arms to her sides. **This is amazing! **"OK, you can sit down now." Marissa eased herself down into the seat of the bike. Elita turned around to head back to the hangers that they had left far behind, and stopped in front of one of them. Marissa got off and started walking over to the door and the two bots transformed. "Why is it closed?" Elita shrugged her shoulder plates but they all looked up sharply when they heard yelling inside the hangar.

"Get out! Do you both want dents in the back of your helmets?!" The yelling inside the med bay was getting louder as the two offending bots refused to leave. Ironhide covered his audio preceptors and shot a murderous look at them. Ratchet opened the hangar door and pointed outside with his wrench. Outside stood Elita One, Arcee and Marissa who stared at the scene before them. The twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were darting around the room, trying to avoid the wrenches that were thrown at them by Ratchet and Ironhide sat on a Autobot sized gurney, his optic sparking occasionally. He watched as Elita stepped forward, and hit both twins on their helmets. "Ow!" "What was that for?!" Ratchet came up behind them and gave them a good whacking himself. "Everyone get out!" The twins stumbled outside but in no time they were leaning against the wall smugly. "You Marissa?" She nodded to the twins, obviously unsure of what to make of them but still shot a retort back to them when they started laughing. **Come on Ratchet..Close the door!.. **"Who are you? Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?" The twins were silent, searching the internet but soon replied: "well, here we are, about to congratulate you and you insult us!" Ratchet cocked his head and growled: "congratulate her?! Its her fault I have to rewire his optic!" Ironhide covered his face with his hands, ignoring the pain in his optic. Marissa mouthed 'oh' and then giggled at him. He could hear her whispering to the other femmes and groaned when they started laughing. "Just go so I can get back to work!" The other bots bodies shook with laughter but they did comply. He faintly heard Marissa saying something, and more laughter ensued. **Worse than the twins, eh? Well, he wasn't kidding.** Ratchet closed the med bay door and picked up a tool and brought it to Ironhide's optic. He tried not to pay any attention to the medibot as he worked but he noticed his shoulder plates shaking harshly. "Frag you Ratchet. Frag all of you." The medibot only sputtered in answer, then released a loud metallic sounding laugh.

Will found Marissa outside on the tarmac, joking with the twins. "Found some new friends I see." His sister smiled at him then glanced back at Sunstreaker and his brother. "Nah, just some rust buckets that make a lot of noise when you hit 'em." The twins grabbed their sides, and laughed at her joke, even Will found her answer hilarious. "Alright, well I have to take you to go see Epps, he hasn't seen you since Annabelle's last birthday party." Marissa raced to Will's side at the mention of his best friend. "Awesome, see you Sunny, Sides." The two bots waved to her and said something in their own language to each other that made Jolt, who was nearby standing in front a hangar chuckle and shake his head. Marissa followed Will across the tarmac and into a hanger that was smaller than the others. She scanned the people's faces that were inside and eventually found Epps talking to a soldier. "Epps!" She ran towards him, wrapping him in a hug. "Wha.. Oh, 'Rissa! Hey, long time no see!" He dismissed the soldier and stepped back to get a look at her. "Hmm, no scratches or bruises, so the bots haven't been to rough with you?" He laughed at Marissa's horrified face and quickly reassured her the bots would never harm any humans. "So, I hear you are joining the army! That's a surprise after your drop out from that one school." Will laughed. "Yeah, Its going to be great! My little sis' playin' with defective guns!" Marissa swung her fist at him but he dodged, still laughing. "Hey, not funny." **Note to self. Tell Epps embarrassing stories about Will later.** "Well, maybe its a good thing I'm not riding home with you." Marissa cocked her head sideways. "Why aren't you?" "Got some stuff to do, 'Hide will give you a ride home though." Epps chuckled to himself. Will gave him a questioning look. "What?" "That's what she said." "Oh man, you've been hangin' around your daughter too much." Marissa meanwhile was pretending to heave at the idea that Epps had put into her head. "That's gross Epps, they can't even do that!" He shrugged. "They got those holoform things don't they? And as far as I know, they're solid." "Why where you even thinking about that?! You do hang around your daughter too much!" The three of them were laughing and wiping tears from their eyes when Will got a message. "'Hide is out of the med bay, better go catch a ride." "Okay, bye you sexy bitches!" "Get out of here!"

Ironhide saw Marissa exit the hanger and walk to him. "Did you get your eye fixed up?" He grunted in return and pointed to his optic. Ratchet had rewired it but it still felt kind of funny. It'll probably go away. "I need a ride home, Will said you would give me one." "Oh he did, did he?" Marissa shot him a look. "Just transform would you?" **Who is she to order me around? **"Fine" He changed into his alt mode and started the engine and waited for her to get in. When she was buckled up he moved forward and passed the gates. "Can I use my phone?" He didn't answer her and she shrugged her shoulders and pulled out her cell phone. She pressed a few buttons and held it up to her ear. "Hey dumbass, guess who it is...You got lucky...Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, are we hangin' out tomorrow?...Awesome...Great, see you then...Oh shut up you bitch...What if I am?...Ha-ha, OK bye." **Human femmes...** "Shouldn't you act more your age? Your maturity level appalls me." He felt a hit on his dash. "Ow." Marissa rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, I know you like it." She quickly put her hand over her mouth. "So did not mean to say that!" Ironhide grunted. "I can be mature if I want too." He grunted again. "Why do I find that hard to believe?" He watched her flick him off and shook his head, though it was hidden in his alt mode. "Why Prime and William think it is a good idea for you to join the army, or NEST, I'll never know." Marissa's expression hardened. "What do you mean by that?" He answered simply, not realizing he had offended her: "well it might not be the best idea for you"- she cut him off, clearly upset. -"Why not? Is it because of my lack of abilities? If so, I assure you that I can take care of myself!" He sputtered: "what? I"- only to be interrupted again-"don't make any excuses for yourself. Just shut up and take me home." Ironhide grunted once again. **What in Cybertron did I say?** He drove her back to the farm in silence, his processor going over their conversation. He was not entirely sure why he was even bothered by it, he should not care whether she was mad at him or not. When they reached the farm she slammed his door shut and stalked off to the house. Sarah was outside tending to her flowers and walked over to him. "What happened?" Ironhide vented. "I apparently said something to make her upset, I think." Sarah patted his alt mode. "Don't worry 'Hide, just remember: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." **For what reason would I have to worry? The femme is just being silly. **He drove away, once again putting his processor to work, drowning in probabilities. "This is something Prowl would do." he muttered to himself.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000

**How could he say something like that? Does he have any idea how below the belt that was?** Marissa fumed over Ironhide's insult through the night She glared at the window when she heard him pull up to the house with Will and made a show of slamming her window shut and drawing the curtains closed so hard that they came off their hooks. The whole time she proudly refused to look at the truck as she fixed them. **I'm probably overreacting a little...** In the end she didn't care though. She argued with herself until she was convinced it was a direct insult. By the time she fell asleep she had decided she wasn't going to talk to him ever again. In the morning she waited until Will had left with him and skipped outside to the Camaro. She picked up her friend Jamie Thomas and had lunch at a diner and they were heading back to her car. Jamie slid over the Camaro's hood, something they both enjoyed doing, and yelled: "Tally Ho!" Marissa laughed and yelled back: "yes, tally 'dem' hoes!" Jamie looked at her with surprise then fell against the car giggling. "What did you say?!" Marissa laughed and replied: "I don't even know what I just said!" The two girls laughed together, gasping for breath. "Were like a couple of fish-out-of-water, "Jamie exclaimed "Ha! Quick! Throw me in the ocean, the sewer- anything!" Marissa laughed harder at her friend's expression. "The sewer?!" She nodded, giggling. "Well all drains lead to the ocean!" Jamie laughed at the Finding Nemo reference and yelled: "stop it! I don't want to suffocate!" Marissa was gasping for air when she was grabbed from behind. "Breath, slag it!" She jumped at the familiar voice and tried to get free but strong arms held her against a firm body. She watched as Jamie got control of herself, though she was still breathing hard. "Hey, let her go shitard!" She ran around the car and attempted to hit the guy but he reached out with his free hand and grabbed her wrist. "You don't want to do that," his said, his voice calm but threatening. "The hell I don't!" Marissa was finally let go and she fell toward the ground. She expected to hit it head first but she was grabbed by her waist by two hands, then she found her footing and shoved them away. "Don't touch me," she said, her voice filled with venom. She turned to Ironhide's holoform and glared at him. "What are you doing here?" She watched his eyes flash dangerously, but smirked when she saw he sported a black eye. "William wanted you to come to the base. You weren't answering your phone so _naturally_ I was sent to go get you." Jamie took this as her cue to step in. "She ain't goin' nowhere with you so back off and keep walking." Marissa shook her head at her friend and said regretfully: "no, I have to go, Will was looking into something for me and I want to talk with him about it." Jamie started to protest but Marissa cut her off and held up her car keys. "You can drive the Camaro back to Will's." **Did I really just say that?** She watched as her friend jumped with glee and took the keys. "Bye-bye 'Rissa! Have fun with 'Muscles!' She jumped into the car and rolled out of the parking lot. Marissa sighed. **So much for friends that stand up for you.** She turned around but Ironhide was gone. **Well then**, she thought and rolled her eyes. After searching the parking lot she found the black truck and jogged towards it. When she opened the door a blast of music hit her. "It sounds like a rock concert in here!" She climbed into the truck and turned the volume down, only to have it turn up again. "Asshole," she muttered. As soon as she buckled her seatbelt the truck pealed out of the parking lot, and sped down the road. "Anxious to get rid of me huh? Well I'm not complaining." The radio was silent except for the obnoxiously loud music.

_ You can't take away my strength_

_ Fix these broken veins_

_ There's nothing left to fight_

_ (Live free or let me die)_

Marissa took to staring out the window, recognizing different places. It had been a long time since she visited her home town. Will had decided to stay here but she got away as fast as she could. **Too many bad memories...** She didn't miss the fact that she was with Ironhide either. She turned to look at the steering wheel and angrily glared at it. **I haven't forgotten it yet you stupid truck**.The radio turned up a little, as if he knew what she was thinking.

_ You can't take away my pride_

_ I won't be denied_

_ (There's nothing left to fight)_

_ Nothing left to fight_

Sure, annoy me to death. She knew she was being childish about it but she couldn't help it. She _wanted_ to be angry with him. Why she did she didn't care or know. She went back to staring out the window. The truck turned into a cemetery, and slowed down considerably. "What are we doing here?" He didn't answer her and she growled. She knew this place, had been here millions of times before. It was pretty big. About thirty years of dead rested underneath it's soil. When the truck headed for the back plots she gasped. A small headstone caught her attention and she closed her eyes so not to look at it. **Why did he bring me ****_here_****?**

* * *

Flashback

_ Marissa reached for her cell phone. She was at work and was just about to leave when she had heard it ringing. "Hello?... Mom?...What's the matter?...The hospital?!...When, how?!...What?...She backed up against a wall, tears streaming down her face. She dropped the phone and sobbed. "No..." A man that had been standing nearby noticed something was wrong and rushed over to her. "Hey, are you OK?" Marissa looked up at his face, her expression blank. "He's gone." _

End Flashback

* * *

The radio stopped as well as Ironhide's engine. A blue light illuminated her face but she didn't turn to it. A deep voice growled at her. "Get. Out." She opened the door and hopped to the ground. Glancing finally at the headstone she smiled softly at it. **I'll come see you after this, don't worry.** Marissa walked in front of the truck and stared expectantly at Ironhide's holoform. "What?" He sighed and put a hand on his hood. He spoke in a quiet but angry voice. "Why would you think I wanted to degrade you?" She tilted her head, "well, duh! You hate me!" He scoffed. "I don't hate anyone except for the decepticons! I dislike a lot of bots and humans, yeah! You know, it takes a lot to hate someone. You certainly can't hate them after just meeting them!" He stared at her with dark eyes. "Well, sorry," she yelled, "because you were pretty convincing!" He yelled back: "oh, you mean that 'insult?' I had no intention of insulting you! Do you want me to insult you? I can do it! Your stupid, childish, blind, and infuriating!" Is that good for you? Make you feel better!?" She walked up to him and got in his face. "Are you done?!" He tossed his hands in the air, "sure, get in!" She turned on her heel but did not get in the truck. "Not yet, I have to go see somebody." She figured he would get in the truck and wait for her but surprisingly he followed her, still yelling. "Who could you possibly meet out here?!" **Now who's the stupid and blind one? **She reached a certain headstone and turned back to him, pointing down at the ground. "Him! Now if you could go back to the truck and give me some peace and quiet I can pay my respects!" He looked at her in shock and looked around him, seemingly having forgotten they were in a cemetery. "Oh," he said quietly. Marissa knelt down at the gravestone and spoke softly: "hey, sorry about dumbass over there. How you been?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Note**: This chapter was kinda fun except for the Zack part. Usually I'm good at writing action scenes. I don't know how I did there. In this chapter, though not at the beginning, like two paragraphs down is a time skip lasting one month. During that month Marissa is training and she finally gets a few days off. Next chapter we learn what in Cybertron is 'Hide talking about in the end of the last paragraph. Also, I get kinda upset when bots have to have someone wash them because they _do_ have holoforms. Meh, read n' review! Ohh, and the cemetery part is important because 'Hide finds out that she acts the way she does for a reason, to hide her grief over a friend she lost. It comes up later... Real emotional stuff! Doesn't that sound fun?! :D

Yes, Chromia is dead! :'(

Chapter 4

Days Off

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000

Ironhide couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. Here he was yelling at her just a few feet from where someone she obviously loved was resting. He had talked to Lennox about Marissa's actions and finally realized that he had unknowingly insulted her. Then he had gotten mad. She had been stupid enough to believe he would ever insult her. Her! Lennox's sister! He would never have thought it, as long as it wasn't in jest. He was her guardian, as well as being Lennox's, Sarah's, and Annabelle's. He had sworn to Lennox, after meeting Annabelle that he would do anything for them. Now he watched Marissa speak to the grave. He found himself wanting to ask about the grave but she told him. "He was the most wonderful personin the world. He had problems though, which is why I suppose he took his life." Ironhide was disgusted. He hated the idea of submitting to your enemies and taking the cowardly way out. Marissa smiled at him and he realized he was making a face. "I know what your thinking. He had a hard life. We never believed that he would do it because he was so strong all the time. It was hard when he did though." Ironhide suddenly saw something in her face as she talked to him, her eyes distant. He saw wiseness, understanding, and pain. He also found a sense of respect for her. He had lost many friends before, he knew what it was like. He carried pain as well, and hid it. She did the same thing; underneath the fun-loving, childish, prankster girl was a soldier fighting to survive. It truly did scare him and made him dislike the idea of her joining NEST even more. He noticed that she was silent now, staring at the grass. He asked her quietly: "you knew him well?" **What kind of question is that?** She nodded and muttered: "I loved him." Then she nodded happily: "it was a long time ago though. I'm happy for him." Ironhide felt his spark sag. He knew how it felt to lose someone you loved. **Chromia...** He closed his holoform's optics for a moment then stood up straight. "Come on, William is waiting." They rode in silence once again, until they got close to the base. Marissa spoke up softly, so that he wouldn't have noticed her speaking had she not stroked the seat. "I'm sorry. For thinking you meant to insult me. I know it was wrong but I just wanted to"- he cut her off, knowing what she was going to say,-"be angry?" She bowed her head. "Yeah." They drove through the base's entrance and stopped by a large hangar. Marissa got out of his alt mode and he transformed. They walked into the hangar and he saw Lennox motion to Marissa to come up to the platform. Prime was there, as well as the General. He watched them talk from the doorway and absently flipped his arm cannons in and out repeatedly. When Marissa hugged Lennox he shook his head and chuckled a little. Ironhide knew Lennox hated to be embarrassed in front of the General and he wouldn't be surprised if Marissa knew it too. She seemed to have put her mask on again since her apology and beamed at him from across the hanger. He started walking toward the platform but Prime came up to him. "How are you and Ms. Lennox getting along?" Ironhide grunted. "Like a scraplet and a scrap heap." Prime raised an optic ridge. "She tells me you have forgiven each other from your recent disagreement." Ironhide turned around and walked to the door and Prime followed him. "Still don't like her," he grumbled. Prime vented and they stepped into the sunlight. "As an old friend and your commander, I ask you to give her a chance. Elita One and Arcee seem to like her"-he paused-"and am I wrong when I say no one was surprised when Sunstreaker and his twin befriended her?" Ironhide shrugged his shoulder plates and stalked off to the shooting range.

"Hey Epps! Your never going to get rid of me now!" Marissa ran down the platform stairs and skipped to a group of soldiers admiring a yellow Lamborghini. Epps rolled his eyes dramatically and wrung his hands mouthing: 'why?' She was about to say something else before she saw Sideswipe hiding behind a wall that made up a makeshift office. The bot winked at her and motioned for her to move with his hand. She took the hint and ran to the safety of the platform's legs just in time as jets of water shot out from behind the wall, soaking the group of soldiers. The Lamborghini shifted until it was the familiar yellow prankster. Sunstreaker laughed and pointed at the humans with his twin and Marissa skipped over. "That was brilliant! Thanks for the warning Sides!" Sideswipe put down the two hoses he had used for the prank. "No problem 'Rissa. Maybe next time you can help us with a prank?" She nodded and Epps stomped over to her and the twins. "I can't believe this, why didn't you warn me 'Rissa?" Sunstreaker stepped carefully over the wet soldiers to stand by his brother. "You were the target, I know you can't help but stop and stare every time you see my alt mode, unfortunately for those squishys, neither can they," he said. Marissa laughed with the twins and winked at Sunstreaker. "We'll it is sexy, I almost didn't realize it was you in there!" Sideswipe punched his brother on the arm and said: "she's got you on that one bro! We better go see Jazz now before things get any uglier!" Marissa watched the twins head to the door and said goodbye to Epps then walked out after them. She looked out across the tarmac and saw Optimus Prime casting apprehensive looks at the twins as they went to the bot's living quarters. She walked over to him and reassured him: "don't worry, they've already pulled their prank for the day." She stepped back when he moved his foot to look down at her and she smiled up at him. "That is relieving information. I would not appreciate it if my berth was covered with the plastic wrapping material humans call 'bubble' wrap." Marissa laughed and asked: "who did they do that to?" Optimus bent down on his knee and whispered to her with a sly grin. "Ironhide was definitely _not_ pleased." Marissa fought to control her laughter and lost. Optimus's intense blue eyes regarded her with concern. "You are not getting enough oxygen into your body Ms. Lennox. If you do not start breathing normally I must take you to Ratchet." Marissa shook her head. "Sorry, I was trying not to laugh." The Prime shook his head and vented. "I am about to give up on understanding your race." Marissa smirked and said excitedly: "well, I'll be staying here for six months to train and then I get to work here so I can answer any questions you have." Optimus told her thank you and she left to go see Elita and Arcee. **This is going to be an eventful six months!**

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000

(time skip - one month)

Ironhide waited for Marissa to come out of the hanger. It had been a month since she had started training and she got to take a few days off to spend at the Lennox's. She had yet to learn about how to go about fixing the bases weapons and he knew she was waiting as patiently as she could. That meant pestering Lennox and Prime constantly on the subject. He had been angry over Prime's request to give her a chance but still sent as little time as he could around her though she had taken to teasing him whenever she caught sight of him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had praised her for her bravery as those two had learned the hard way that it was dangerous to prank or tease the weapons specialist. He could have done something but found it easier to just avoid her. That would be a problem today as he had to drive her to the farm. She _had _been using her Camaro to drive around but Will had to use it a few times-much to his delight-but it broke down. Marissa had been furious about it and wanted to get to work fixing it as soon as they got home. Ironhide hoped she would fix it soon because there was _no_ way he was going to drive her around the whole weekend. He grunted in disgust just as Marissa exited the hangar. She shot him a look and grunted back at him. "Don't you grunt at me, I'll grunt right back!" Ironhide vented and transformed into the black truck and opened the passenger door. "Well, besides your limited vocabulary you are quite the gentleman 'Hide. Or rather gentlemech." She climbed into the truck and waited for his engine to come to life and leave the base. "Um, I've been here for a month straight 'Hide and I want to go home now..." Ironhide would have rolled his optics. "You have to buckle your seatbelt," he grumbled. Marissa winked at the rearview mirror. "Oh, right." She grabbed the belt and pulled it across her very slowly then tried to put it in the buckle but it slipped. She tried to put it in again but it did so again. Ironhide yelled in frustration. "Oh, just let me do it!" He willed the seatbelt to buckle and quickly started his engine and pealed out of the base. Marissa laughed manically and gazed out the window. She was quiet for most of the ride through the town until she got a phone call. She ended the call after a few quick words with the person on the other line and tapped the dash. "We have to stop at the market, Sarah needs some stuff." Ironhide groaned and pulled into a parking lot. Marissa got out and whispered to him. "Don't worry, I'll be quick." She walked into the store and came back out fifteen minutes later. **I thought she said she'll be quick. What could have taken her so long? She only has one bag!** She opened the door and set the bag in the driver's seat and buckled with no problems. She huffed a little, crossed her arms and stared at the store's doors. A man came out and looked out at the parking lot, searching for someone. Ironhide asked: "is he looking for you?" She nodded and sighed. "I know him, he tried to talk to me in the store but I left. These windows are tinted right?" Ironhide grunted in response and started the truck. "Why is he trying to talk to you? It obviously has you bothered." Marissa watched the man stare at the truck as they left the parking lot and headed down the road. "Its nothing, he just wants something he can't have." As they got farther away from the town and the man her anger subsided and disappeared all together. They drove past fields and Marissa leaned out the window and yelled, startling a herd of cattle. She yelped when the window started to roll up and pulled back. "Hey! Are you trying to decapitate me?" The window shut and Ironhide's voice came through the radio. "Keep your appendages inside the vehicle and your big head will stay where it is." Marissa sighed and ran her fingers lightly over the center console. "Can't help it 'Hide, I finally get to sleep in my bed, see my beautiful niece...'Hide what are you doing?" The truck had drifted to the side of the road, it's tires precariously close to falling into a ditch but quickly drifted back to the road. Ironhide grunted and muttered something about paying attention to the road. Marissa rolled her eyes and poked the passenger door. "Could you have been staring at the cute little Fiat in front of us?" He scoffed back at her. "It was not that, I was researching something on the web. We sometimes get distracted from driving with information being loaded into our processors." **Yeah right, why don't you tell her you've been lobbing with the Fallen!** Marissa nodded her head exaggeratingly and said: "sure..."

"Why? He can always just go through a car wash," Marissa whined. Lennox had just finished telling her that she would be washing Ironhide but she was not having any of it. "Will...Please don't make me do it! He already dislikes me enough without me crawling all over him and spraying him with cold water!" Lennox handed her a bucket full of cleaning supplies. "Not really, the bots actually enjoy baths. Besides, I'm kind of your boss." Marissa gave him a "not amused" look and headed out the door. Annabelle and Sarah looked on expectantly from the swing set, ready to watch 'Hide get clean. He really was a mess, mud splattered all over his frame and in side the wheel wells and somehow on top of his hood. She put down the bucket and started to ask how but thought better of it. The bots had been out three times this month battling things called Decepticons. From what she'd seen and heard from the soldiers, they were really bad news. Elita and Arcee didn't like to talk about them and she got the feeling they had lost someone very close to them to the Decepticons. Sure, she figured all the bots had lost someone, seeing as how they all hated the Cons with a deep passion. All except for Optimus. He didn't really seem to hate them, more so feel bad for them. It made her think that maybe they were actually Autobots that had gotten some kind of disease that made them bad. She figured she'd ask Ironhide about it, she had been meaning to ask him some questions anyways. She brought out the hose and turned it on and shivered when the water touched her skin. She walked up to Ironhide and sprayed the water onto the mud, hoping to get most of it off with the hose. "Primus, that water is cold!" Ironhide backed up trying to get away from it and Marissa snickered. She called out to him: "Oh come on 'Hide! Will said you guys like baths!" She shook her head when he grunted and rolled forward, submitting himself to the freezing water. She turned the hose up to a higher setting when she found that the previous setting was too weak for the mud. When she figured she'd done all she could one side she pulled the hose around to the other. "hey 'Hide..." Ironhide's holoform appeared as he asked: "what?" Marissa jumped at his sudden appearance right next to her and gave him a quizzical look. "Why did you activate the holoform?" He rolled his eyes and strolled over to the porch and sat on the steps. "Is that what you wanted to ask me?" She shook her head and he sighed. "I find it easier to talk to humans when I use this form. You all still seem awkward about talking to a truck." Marissa went back to spraying the muddy truck with water. "Yeah, a truck that could turn into a giant robot and squash us if we make you mad," she said sarcastically. Ironhide grunted and replied: "as if that's ever stopped you." Marissa smiled to herself. "The twins said I'm the triplet they never had." When there was no answer from him so she looked back to see if he was still there. He was regarding her with a wondering expression. "What?" Ironhide shook his head and waved her off. "Nothing, I just didn't expect the twins to go that far." Marissa turned around to face him head on. "Huh? What do you mean?" He stood up and inspected her progress leisurely. "You know how our sparks work?"-she nodded-"Well if you were Cybertronian they would have formed a bond with you. Not like sparkmating, its a sibling kind of thing. Elita and Arcee have done it. If a bot has a friend that is like a sibling to them that they are so close, a bond will be formed between them. Siblings will do anything to protect each other and there's no doubt Sunny or Sides would do so for you as well." Marissa's eyes widened. **Wow...** Ironhide kicked at some mud hanging on the wheel well and said: "Cybertronians feel very deeply, they would kill anyone who hurt their mate, sibling, creator, or sparkling." Marissa shook her head. "That sounds hard to believe, seeing as most humans are so hateful of each other." Ironhide grunted and asked: "so what was your question?" She filled the the bucket with soap and water, having given up on the hose. "I wanted to know about those Decepticons you guys keep fighting. Whats their deal? Are they Cybertronian?" Ironhide's eyes darkened and Marissa realized that it might not have been a good question to ask _him_. He stepped closer to her and she noticed his eyes were no longer the electric blue they usually were, they were surprizingly navy blue. He growled at her with disgust and anger in his voice: "Decepticons _are_ Cybertronian, I am ashamed to say. They are the worst filth to ever roam the universe, they bring destruction and death everywhere they go. They destroyed Cybertron and killed many good bots." Marissa was surprised by his rage but even more surprised when a flash of sadness and grief passed through his eyes. She immediately wanted to reach out to him and comfort him but he turned away and picked up a sponge from the bucket. "Go on, I can finish this," he muttered. Marissa made to protest but he shot her a demanding look. She took the hint and left him alone. She had plenty of things to do anyways. Her Camaro needed a new brake power boost and she would have to search Ebay for one.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000

Will and Sarah had planned to go out for the night and Marissa was to babysit Annabelle for the night. Ironhide was ordered to remain at the Lennox's and they would leave in Sarah's car. Now Marissa and Annabelle sat on the picnic table and Ironhide was in his alt mode. Marissa tickled Annabelle and told her about the stars that shined above them and Ironhide looked up at them as well, searching for a certain star. He found Alpha Centurai and gazed at it for a bit remembering the planet he knew so well that resided near the star. He was distracted from the star by a car pulling into the driveway next to him. The man from the store that had bothered Marissa stumbled out of the car, obviuosly intoxicated. Marissa got up from the picnic table in surprise and picked Annabelle up. Ironhide saw her run to the house but the man stopped her and forced her to drop Annabelle. Marissa stood in front of the child and Ironhide activated his holoform, anger rising in his spark. He tromped toward the human but stopped when Marissa yelled at the man. "Get out of here Zack! I've told you before, I will never forgive you! Asshole!" Ironhide ran for them when he saw the man presumably called Zack raise his fist. He was too late to stop the blow from coming down on Marissa but when the fist was raised once again he grabbed it and twisted it behind the Zack's back. Raging with anger now at the man who had hurt _his _Marissa he threw him to the ground and roared: "I will end you for touching her!" Zack struggled to get off the ground and wobbled on his feet due to the amount of achohol inside his body. Ironhide sidestepped Zack when he tried to headbutt his stomach and watched him trip and fall. He growled and walked up behind him, picked him up but Zack tipped sideways a little and he had to steady his feet. Zack turned around to face him and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. "Pathetic slagger," Ironhide muttered and punched him in the face. When the human fell backwards he grabbed him and punched him in the stomach. Zack gasped as if he was hit with a baseball bat by a professional player and fell to the ground. Ironhide could see blood near the man's mouth and even more trickling out of a mangled nose and made to pick him up again to deal more blows to the filth but an arm grabbed him from behind. He spun around and saw a blond teen in a silver jacket, black T-shirt, and white skinny jeans. "Sides?" The teen nodded and pulled him away from the prone figure on the ground. Ironhide looked behind Sideswipe's holoform and saw an identical holoform in a yellow jacket leading Marissa and a whining Annabelle into the house. Sideswipe bent to check on the now silent Zack and asked Ironhide: "what did he ever do to deserve such a beating?" Ironhide growled lowly and glared at the man, playing with the idea of finishing him. **He hurt ****_my_**** Marissa, he will die...** Sideswipe looked at him with worry but rage took over his features suddenly. Ironhide knew that he had learned Marissa had been harmed through the special bond he shared with his twin. Sideswipe clenched his fist and closed his optics for a moment and Ironhide turned his attention back to Zack and stepped nearer to him. He was shocked when Sideswipe grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back as much as he could. "Listen 'Hide, I would have done the same thing too but Prime will have our sparks if we kill a human. You've punished the scum enough already," he tried to reason with him. Ironhide growled at him and walked to the house, he wanted to make sure his Marissa was OK. He paused. **No**, he thought, **not mine**. He put a hand to his forehead trying to sort his processor. **Marissa is annoying, she is practically the twin's sister. **He tried to tell himself that she was human as well but he knew from experience that it was not a problem. He noticed Sideswipe dragging the man to his alt mode but concentrated on his racing processor. He remembered how it had happened but he also knew how it had ended. **Do I really want to risk that?** He thought it over and came to a final conclusion. **Yes, I do.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Note**: I don't think the universe wanted me to upload this chapter. My flash drive ruined it twice so I had to restart it twice. Thankfully I wrote a better version of my last attempts than I thought possible. I like this chapter a lot actually, my fav part being the flashback. The talk with Elita is weird because they end up talking about Chromia's death. If you don't get it: Ironhide _used_ to blame Elita for her death. Yeah, just go ahead and read it, you'll figure it out. Tell me if its going to fast or to slow or if its too confusing, OK? Love those reviews! No really, I have a mini party whenever I get one (confetti is still in my hair). You readers are awesome! 3

P.S. Sorry if it seems to short!

Chapter 5

Elita and Jazz

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000

Marissa walked into the med bay and knocked on the leg of a giant table. She listened for the sound of Ratchet's grumbling and wasn't disappointed. Said medic showed himself and stomped over to her.

"Ah, there you are. I trust Ironhide relayed my message."

Marissa shook her head and followed the bot to the far side of the med bay where the human doctors worked. Unfortunately for her, no other doctors were available so she would have to endure Ratchet's bed side manner. "No, Sides did. Was Ironhide supposed to?"

Ratchet muttered something about it 'not making a difference to me, as long as your here' and transformed. She had seen his alt mode before but she still admired the custom emergency vehicle. She new that the bots scanned human vehicles for their armor and a disguise and she thought that whoever had created the original certainly knew their cars.

Ratchet's holoform climbed out of his alt mode and she sat on a hospital bed and watched him prepare medical tools for her examination. The events of Saturday night had given him cause for concern and had insisted that he give her a medical evaluation. Of course she had refused but a gruff Ironhide had made it clear that she would go. Her ears still rung from his rather _loud_ lecture. She didn't know what had happened to him. He usually would be indifferent to her at all times but she knew he disliked her. He had said it himself. **So what has changed?**

Her thoughts were interrupted by voices at the entrance of the med bay. She saw the twins and Ironhide enter and walk over to her. Sunny and Sides transformed and formed their holoforms while Ironhide stood a little ways off, looking for all the world like he was confused about something. Sunstreaker sat on the bed next to her.

"We didn't know where you went after your morning training session, why didn't you tell us you were going to the med bay?"

Marissa understood now why Ironhide was here. He had probably told the twins she was here and they had dragged him along. The mischievous duo loved to aggravate him and it was common knowledge that she aggravated him pretty well.

"Sorry guys, I figured it wouldn't take too long so I just came here right after training."

Sideswipe nodded, seemingly pleased with her answer but his optics darkened a little. "We still want to talk to you about...Zack."

Marissa could feel the tenseness in the med bay from both twins. Their holoform's features betrayed their feelings toward her ex but she also noticed Ironhide had clenched his huge fists. **Is it possible?..**

"Its fine you guys. I know you would never let him near me again."

Sunstreaker growled and shot Ironhide a furtive glance. "That is a concern of mine. We're not with you all the time."

Ironhide mumbled in what sounded like disgust: "but I am."

Marissa couldn't help but feel hurt. She was usually the person who got upset if people didn't like her but she had tried to ignore Ironhide's dislike toward her. The way he said those words hit her like a frying pan though. She suddenly wanted to yell at him, the way he did to her.

Sideswipe rolled his optics. "You will have to protect her from Zack, I found out that he has begun searching for her again. I did try to get Prime to assign us to her, but he said no."

Marissa patted his arm. "You guys don't need to, if I know Zack, its only to apologize and ask me that some stupid question again. He only hurt me because he wasn't thinking right. He would never hurt me otherwise."

Ironhide suprised them all by stepping closer and growling: "I don't care. If I find him within one mile of her location he will be terminated. I give my word to you two that she will be safe from him."

Sunstreaker stood up with genuine shock at Ironhide's statement and glanced at Sideswipe. Marissa was not expecting this to come from Ironhide. It made her angry though.

"The hell you will! I told you, I know him. I've been through this before!" Marissa jumped up and stormed off. She had to find some better company. Company who would support her and not talk about herself right in front of her like a child!

~~Ironhide released a wave of bullets from his cannon onto the drones in the shooting range. He didn't care when one of the exploded and a couple others caught on fire. He casually reloaded and aimed at one drone with flames licking across its surface. Its circuitry sparked and it crashed into another drone, causing it to fall over.

"I see you are missing Wheeljack's technology skills."

Ironhide grunted.

"Are you here to blow off steam or just practice? You rarely miss your mark so I doubt its that."

He turned to the pink femme before she could speak again.

"What about you? I don't see your sister anywhere. Did you abandon"-

-"Ironhide"

He looked away from her. After all these deca-cycles he still blamed her...and she knew it.

"I didn't come here to talk about that. I wanted to thank you..."

Ironhide's optics narrowed. "For what?"

Elita walked over to a pile of destroyed drones and tapped the metal with her fingers while she examined their circuitry.

"For what you did that night. I know you don't really like Marissa and you barely tolerate her jokes, but that was beyond how I expected you to react."

Ironhide tensed. "You thought I would do nothing to protect her?"

Elita looked at him in surprise. "No I just..." She lowered her optics to the drones. "Protocal would require you to stop the human without violence. The twins or me and my sister would have ripped him apart, protocal or not. I just didn't think you cared for her like we do. Sunstreaker told me how they found you."

Ironhide shuttered his optics. **I do care...** He turned back to the pink femme. "I am her gaurdian no matter what. I am bound to protect her as she is part of Lennox's family."

"Yet you dislike her?"

"I don't _have _to like her. I will admit that I like her more than I did before though, when I first met her."

"So she's growing on you?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because believe it or not, it bothers her that you don't like her. She would never say it aloud though..."Elita seemed to have seen something in the pile of drones that caught her attention. She plucked a data chip out of the wreckage. "Is this what you've been using to program their coordination?"

Ironhide nodded, intriged as to why she would be interested in the chip.

"You should use a larger chip. This one isn't powerful enough."

Ironhide took the chip from her and examined it, noticing that it had been fried. "Who would have thought that Elita One was a techie," he said, using a human term to describe her.

"No, I'm just smarter than the average femme."

As soon as his audio receptors heard her he clenched his fist, crushing the chip. Elita's optics widened in horror and immediatly tried to speak again but he unclenched his fist and held his palm up. Elita's optics followed the remains of the chip as they fell to the ground.

"Not your fault. That memory is but a testament to my _own_ stupidity. And I was not the only one to lose someone that day..."

Elita's optics stayed focused on his own for a couple nano-kliks. "But before"-

"I guess this conversation has opened my optics. I may not _seem_ to care for Marissa but _you_ do. I don't think I can blame you after seeing that you care so much for her after only knowing her for an Earth month."

Ironhide could see she was shocked as much as he was. He never talked with anyone like this, with the rare exception of Optimus. He decided to end the conversation by turning back to the shooting range. He had forgotten though that he needed to set more drones up. He entered the storage room by the range where where he kept them and lifted a few onto his shoulders. He vented when he saw Elita was still there. She gazed at the most recently destroyed drones with a sad, faraway look in her eyes.

"Our talk was nice but it dosen't mean I'm you girlfriend now."

Her optics darted to him and he was surprised that he had startled the femme commander. **Then again**, he thought, **she had been there...**

"Of course...I was just...Remembering."

She turned and left quickly as Ironhide cleaned up the drones. The conversation with Elita had opened his optics, but not just to who was really to blame for Chromia's death-**me**, he thought. He now had a better idea of what was going on in his spark, though he was not entirely sure just yet. He hadn't answered Elita's question.

"So she's growing on you?"

He knew there was only one bot who could help him. The one bot that had ever loved a human. So far...

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Jazz?" Ironhide stood in the doorway of the bots's quarters.

Jazz looked up at him from his berth and a fake smile graced his faceplates. "Hey man! Wha'd up?"

Ironhide shifted visibly unsure whether or not to enter the room. Jazz noticed and waved him in. He noticed that Ironhide was definitely not himself.

"Somthin' da matter?"

Ironhide vented. "You could say that."

Jazz motioned for him to sit down at a couch and waited for him to speak again. Something really seemed to be bothering the weapons specialist and Jazz wondered how long it had been going on. He had taken time off from his duties but had regretted it. Many bots came to him with their troubles regularly and he gave them advice and help. How many times had he been needed during his time off? How many times had he not been there for his comrades?

Ironhide seemed to guess what he was thinking. "Don't be guilty for taking time off. You needed some time to yourself, to recover form your own experience. We could understand that much, no need to add our troubles to your own," he said harshly. Then he averted his optics and focused them on the floor. "I do need to ask you about that though. I need to know if I would be doing the right thing...I'm not sure if I can do this...because of what happened to Amy."

Jazz's spark hurt at hearing her name. Though he deeply analyzed what Ironhide had said. He got a shock when he realized what he had been hinting at.

Flashback-

_"Hi." _

_Jazz turned to the voice behind him. He locked optics with the human and she spoke again._

_"I've heard a lot about you from the others. I'm glad to get the chance to meet you."_

_Jazz was very intrigued by the human. He had only seen a few so far and this one seemed different from the rest. With a start he realized she was female. "Who are you?"_

_The human femme's face started turning a different color. Her body temperature also rose. He took a step closer, wondering what had happened._

_"Oh, sorry! I should have introduced myself before, my name is Amy." _

_He kneeled down to get closer to her, even though he wasn't that tall. "Hello Amy. Are you OK? You seem to be o'erheating."_

_She laughed and Jazz was amazed at how melodious it sounded. He couldn't even compare it to the Cybertronian instruments that he enjoyed so much. She shook her head and held out her hand to him. _

_"Come on Jazz, you have a lot to learn about Earth. And I understand that I'm not the only one here who has a love for music."_

_Jazz smiled and held out his finger for Amy to hold. They left the med bay together, or rather Jazz scooped her up in his hand and ran when Ratchet yelled for him to come back._

End Flashback

Jazz shook himself out of the memory, and noticed that Ironhide was staring at him. He broke the silence by asking him: "You mean you've fallen"-

Ironhide interrupted him quickly. "I don't know, maybe! This isn't something I can solve with my cannons! I'm lost right now."

Jazz understood completely. Although his and Amy's relationship had practically started when first saw her after coming back online. It had been her, after all, that made it possible for him to come back. There had been the question of whether or not a cross species relationship could even work though. He was relieved that if Ironhide went through with this though, there would be no uncertainties this time.

There was one thing though. "Who is it?"

Ironhide rubbed his faceplates and vented, obviously trying to clear his mind. "Marissa."

Jazz stared at him in surprise. "Slag! Why'd it have to be 'er?"

"I don't know! Ever since I met her, I've been thinking about how beautiful she is, how her voice is more pleasing to my audio receptors than the sound of my own cannons firing, how she's so daring and funny." He gave Jazz a desperate look. "You know what I'm talking about don't you?"

Jazz nodded, and as serious as this was, he was trying hard not to laugh at his comrade. Ironhide was in love. "And youz been denying tha' ya like 'er, righ'?"

Ironhide looked down at his feet. "Didn't you?"

Jazz reached out and touched his shoulder. "A lil', but it won' do any good. I know ya are less willin' to a'cept your feelin's, and even less to show dem. Nee' I remind ya 'bout Chromia?"

Ironhide remained silent.

Jazz decided to keep talking. "Ya still haven' gotten ova 'er, 'ave ya? I know why though. Ya still blamin' bots. Thas why."

Ironhide held his helm in despair. "I don't blame her anymore."

"Yeah, when'd ya tell 'er that?"

"Today," came the answer from the ashamed bot.

"Took ya ligh'years ta do it!"

Ironhide shook his head at Jazz's exagerating and stood up, his faceplates revealing no emotion. "So I don't deny it anymore. Now what do you expect me to do? Its not like _she_ likes _me_. At least I don't think so anyways."

Jazz laid back on his bed, grinning. "Well I guess ya go talk ta 'Lita an 'Cee. Also, youz shoud wait awhile 'fore tellin' da twins. I know dey ain' gonna like dis."

Ironhide folded his arms cockily. "I don't know about that. They seem to be looking for someone to play 'bodyguard' when they're not around. Who better than somebot who loves her more than anyone else?"

Jazz laughed at his friend. **Oh, this is gonna be good.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note**: Oh yeah, thumbs up for quick upload. Jazz is hilarious in this chappy! So are the twins and Marissa. Prepare for the giggles! Well, there are a little feels too, they will be extended farther... 'Hide also does something that puts him in a rough spot with the twins...But his and Marissa's relationship has NOT started yet...She really is pretty clueless in this chap. Starts two days after where the last chap left off. Tell me if you think its moving too fast!

Chapter 6

...

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe didn't see Marissa at all after she stormed out of the med bay. They searched the base until they found the two femmes who called themselves her friends in the bot's rec room two days later.

Elita watched the twins warily as they lingered outside the door. "What do you slaggers want?"

Sideswipe rolled into the room on his wheeled feet. "We've been looking for Marissa, haven't seen her in two Eath days."

Arcee rolled her optics. "Its called being avoided."

Sunstreaker walked in behind his twin. "Come on, you guys realize that she must be protected, don't you?"

Elita glared at him. "Of course we do, just not to the extent of guarding her every moment she is outside of the base over an otherwise harmless human."

Sideswipe knew that they were probably overeacting a bit, but he didn't want the human to bother Marissa. He was thankful that Ironhide could be trusted with that when he and Sunny weren't around.

He lowered his optics. "Well, next time you see her, tell her I'm sorry."

Sunstreaker vented. "Yeah, me too. I was hoping we could play a prank."

Arcee scrutinized them under her gaze. "We'll be sure to relay the message. Just who did you intend to prank though?"

Sunstreaker grinned. "Ohh, no one in particular..." He ran out of the rec room and Sideswipe quickly followed him.

The twins knew it was only a matter of time before Marissa came to them about the prank. They hadn't decided on one yet and were looking forward to really seeing how good of a prankster she was. Marissa was fun, no doubt about that, and she liked to tell them about pranks she had played, so they had the idea of pulling a prank on the most dangerous mech of the Autobots. With the exception of Optimus Prime of course. Hopefully, after a few laughs and a near death experience, Marissa would forgive them.

Sideswipe and his twin entered their quarters. A large TV and Xbox that they had mysteriously aquired was set up at the front of the room. Sunstreaker situated himself on the bot-sized couch in front of the TV and started up their favorite videogame: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Sideswipe smirked at him and sat down beside him. They played the game by hacking it with their procssors, and needless to say, had wowed many of the younger soldiers on the base, all of which had had a chance to play with them.

Sunstreaker's character turned to attack his brother's, hacking at him with a knife.

Sideswipe growled in annoyance. "Stop it Sunny!"

"Don't call me that!"

Sideswipe laughed at him and weaponized his character with a KAP-40.

"Time to return the favor!"

Sunny's character was killed by Sideswipe's and he punched his metal arm.

"I'll frag you for that!"

A voice distracted them from their game: "when and where?"

They turned their heads to the large door. Marissa leaned against the large frame, grinning.

Sideswipe jumped from the couch. "Marissa! Did you talk to Elita and Arcee?"

She walked over to them and Sunny picked her up. "They came and told me right after you guys left. Now, what about this prank?"

Sideswipe sat back down and cocked his head. "What are you talking about? I know nothing about a prank," he said, knowing perfectly well what she was refering to.

"Don't give me any bullshit Sides, you guys wanted to pull a prank!"

"Oh, _that_! Yeah, you have to come up with a prank to pull on a certain mech."

Sunny chuckled at Marissa's squeal of glee. "And that mech would be Ironhide, feel up to it 'Shorty?'"

Marissa rubbed her palms together and laughed manically. "Of course, I know just the prank too! I'm sure I can get 'Hide to change his mind about explosions real quick!"

Sideswipe shook his head. "This'll be good. Go on, out with the plan."

Marissa clapped her hands and proceeded to speak in a buisness-like manner. "OK, he'll need to be in recharge for this, and we need acsess to his quarters while he is in recharge."

The twins nodded, eager to hear the best part of the prank.

"What I'll do is get a 2-liter bottle of warm water, filled halfway, and pour some dry ice into it. We set the bottle near his berth and hide outside of his quarters."

Sideswipe didn't need to be told what would happen after that. He finished excitedly for her: "and the bottle will explode! That'll scare him out of recharge alright!"

Sunny laughed but got serious for a moment. "We'll have to run like the Pit though, he'll put a couple of dents in our helms like the last time we pranked him. I'm not sure that he won't refrain from getting _any_ of us back somehow."

Marissa patted his palm. "Don't worry Sunny, I run fast enough."

"You better hope so."

~~Ironhide truged to his quarters. The last days had been hard on his processor and he had talked with Jazz a lot, trying to get up the courage to tell the twins and the two femmes about his feelings towards Marissa. The more he thought about it the more he didn't want to tell them. They would definetly not be OK with it at first, he just hoped they would be resonable. He hadn't recharged more than two cycles and his systems were feeling it.

He reached his berth just in time as his optics dimmed and his processor begged for some recharge. He complied and lay on the berth with his optics turned off and his inner workings running quietly.

Dream

_Ironhide stumbled through the wreckage of a building that had just exploded. His optics had spotted a flash of blue among the pieces of rubble._

_"Chromia..."_

_He rushed over to the spot and started heaving the rubble off of the blue form. His spark almost stopped when he saw the unlit optics of the femme. He leaned down to lift her up but another explosion erupted close to his position. He quickly threw his frame over the femme in a desperate attempt to keep her from more harm. He looked up after the shockwaves of the explosion passed and stood up with the femme in his arms. Her form was nothing more but dead weight and his spark hurt as he made it out of the destroyed building._

_"Primus, tell me that's not her!"_

_Two femmes met him when he made it out, but he ignored them. He could sense _her _spark fading quickly. His optics scanned the area around him. __**Which way is the medical tent?! **__He recongnized the way he had come from and ran for it, the other femmes right behind him. His spark called out to the femme in his arms. _

**_"Please, please don't leave me!"_**

_Something hit him on his right side and he was thrown to the ground. His processor recovered and he kneeled over the unresponding femme. With a sudden, distraught cry he clutched the blue frame with his arms just as her spark gave one final, weak push to survive..._

**_"Chromia...No..."_**

_"NO!"_

End of dream

Ironhide was pulled out of his dream by a loud whining noise. He only just processed that it was coming from his quarters when an audio receptor-splitting "boom" scared him out of his berth. His cannons were out before he even took in the white mess covering him and the walls. He cocked his head in complete confusion. **What...**

"Slag, he is going to kill us!"

He focused his optics in the direction of the voice and with a sudden realization came to the conclusion that he had been the victim of a prank.

Two bots ran down the hallway with one human, and there was no mistaking their identities. Ironhide roared loudly and charged after them.

"Get your no good afts back here!"

He followed them outside and was mildly surprised that Marissa was keeping ahead of him so well. The twins banked to the right while Marissa went left. In a split second decison he went after her instead of the twins. Anger subsiding he started to enjoy the chase. With the object of his affections running ahead of him, he sped up a bit more.

They were now running in the field behind the hangars where soldiers trained. A few caught sight of the speeding mass of metal and cleared out. Unbeknowest to Ironhide, the twins watched from one end of the field, unsure about what the weapons specialist would do to Marissa.

Ironhide was catching up to his target quickly, and she turned to look at him as he came up beside her.

"Oh shit!"

She hit the ground and Ironhide tried to stop but ended up tripping, and throwing up dirt and grass in the process. Marissa lay sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily from her run and Ironhide gazed at her for a moment.

She looked up at him. "Well you got me, what are you going to do with me?"

Ironhide reached out a hand too her. She looked tentatively at it and he realized he'd never held her before. He smiled reasurringly and she nodded. He curled his fingers so she wouldn't fall and lifted her up a little too quickly to his face. She giggled from the head rush she recieved from the quick movement and tried to steady herself against his finger. He realized she was hugging it and at the same time trying to slow her breathing down.

"You run pretty slaggin' fast for a human."

She laughed, apparently not realizing she was rubbing her face against the tip of his finger. "So, what _did_ you plan on doing with me?"

A thought crossed his processor and he immediatly repremanded himself. He hadn't even talked to Jazz about _that_! He was jerked out his thoughts when Marissa sighed and brushed her hair behind her ears, revealing her fine features. Ironhide suddenly wanted that face near his and without thinking brought her closer to him. She seemed not to care and smiled at him, wonder written across her face. He was so lost in her beauty and her smile that he didn't know what he was doing until he bent his forehead down to hers. She giggled, not knowing what he was doing either, well at least he hadn't known. Now that he had realized why his forehead was so close to hers, he didn't want to stop. Not for a nanoklik. Their foreheads met and he reveled in the pleasure it brought him even if the second party didn't realize what was happening. Guilt washed over him, following the pleasure.

In the blink of an optic Marissa was gone from his palm and the small spot her forehead had occupied went cold. **Oh slag!** He sensed the hit coming before it made contact with his helm.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 

~~Jazz rushed into the med bay but one look at the twins made him immediately want to leave. Ironhide lay on a berth with a disapproving Ratchet standing over him and the twins and Marissa stood across from the berth. Marissa was pouting, no doubt because the bots were talking in Cybertronian.

Sunstreaker walked up to Jazz and poked a finger in his chest._ "Primus, Jazz if you know anything about this, speak now!"_

Jazz backed up and put his hands up in surrender. _"'ey! He came ta me 'bout it! And he was goin' to tell youz, I swear!"_

Ratchet pulled Sunny away and sat him down on a berth. _"Cut it out Sunstreaker, I know your looking out for Marissa but don't go beating on innocent mechs!"_

Marissa gave them all a questioning look when her name was mentioned. Jazz felt bad for her. She had no idea what the twins were so riled up about. Jazz looked over at Ironhide who had a good sized dent in his helm. **Slagger probly' deserved it!**

Sideswipe was gazing down sadly at Marissa while he spoke. _"What exactly did he tell you?"_

Jazz could understand that the silver bot would want to know what Ironhide's intentions were towards the femme who was practically his sister but he couldn't comply. _"I think ya'd better hear tha' from 'im." _

Sunstreaker looked like he was about to say something but kept his mouth shut. Instead he looked at Sideswipe, probably talking to him through their bond.

Sideswipe vented and bent down to pick Marissa up. _"I don't think Marissa should be in here for that." _He switched back to English to tell her: "come on, I'll take you to your afternoon training."

"I want to stay here until 'Hide wakes up!"

Jazz was shocked when he heard the concern in her voice. She turned to look sadly at Ironhide's form and Jazz wondered if it was possible for Marissa to return the feelings Ironhide had for her.

Sideswipe seemed upset by her words and walked away with her.  
"He'll be fine, you can see him later. Maybe."

When they were gone, Ratchet set to work repairing the dent in Ironhide's helm. Jazz came closer to the berth, standing between it and Sunstreaker.

"When will he wake up?"

"Soon," came the quick reply from the medibot.

~~Sunstreaker vented and got up from the berth.

"I'll be back," he growled.

Jazz nodded in his direction and Ratchet sent him a cold glance. He walked out of the med bay and stood silently, trying to sort his processor. His spark warred with itself and he shuttered his optics.

He was mad at Ironhide for taking advantage of Marissa-no he was _fuming_. **Who does that mech think he is?** She didn't even know what the act of touching foreheads was! He was also surpised that Ironhide actually had feelings for the human. He _hated_ her! **When did that change? **Somehow he could not see the weapons specialist and the human he considered to be family in a relationship like the one Jazz had had with the human femme, Amy. That was another concern. What if a relationship with Ironhide got her killed by the Decepticons like Amy had been?

He was interrupted by the presence of his brother nearing him. He looked up from the concrete ground and found Sideswipe's silver form approaching him.

Sideswipe contacted him with their bond. **_"Do you think we should let him explain before we beat his aft?"_**

Sunstreaker grinned deviously. **_"I think I'll let you decide while I deactivate his weapons."_**

Sideswipe laughed through the bond**_ "Good idea. Don't want those cannons getting in the way while he holds our sis."_**

_**"So you'd be OK with it?"**_

_**"Have you met Marissa? If she does feel that way about him, she's not going to let us let her no."**_

_**"True. Guess we should go see if he's up."**_

Sideswipe nodded and headed to the med bay entrance but stopped when his twin made no move to follow him. **_"Though I know we can't really stop him, I'm not happy about it anymore than you are."_**

_**"I can tell. We better head in and get it over with, huh?"**_

Sideswipe nodded and walked through the med bay doors. Sunstreaker was one step behind him and before he even entered the med bay he could feel the tension in the air. Ironhide sat on a berth holding his head and Ratchet stood next to him like a guard. Jazz was glaring daggers at 'Hide and Sideswipe and himself felt as if they had walked in on an argument.

Sunstreaker cocked his head and asked: "Anybot want to explain just what's been going on in here?"

Jazz pointed an accusing finger at Ironhide. "Ask 'im."

Ironhide vented. "Apparently I have angered two mechs who in turn have taken it out on a good friend of mine, which I am very sorry about," he recited as if reading from a script. "Happy now Jazz?"

"Oh, I'ma just burstin' with joy."

Sunstreaker, despite his previous anger couldn't stop the laughter that rumbled out, caused by the defeated mech sitting on the berth.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: **I removed the last sentence of Chapter 6, I know that particular chapter wasn't the best. Never post when you're practically dead on your feet! I tend to make stupid mistakes when I get tired...I tried to make this chapter acceptable, it's actually a 2nd part of chap 6, as it was never meant to end that way. (Sleepy author again) Also, Elita is a bitch, but she's got her reasons. Especially since it's _Ironhide_ pinning for Marissa. Read and Review! Please? For my birthday?

Chapter 7

Jazz Knows Best

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000

Ironhide had been kicked out of the med bay along with Jazz and the twins by Ratchet before another argument started Sunny had then made it clear to Ironhide that unless he was mech enough to approach Marissa and apologize for his earlier actions, he would "do more than scare him out of recharge." Of course the twins still found his predicament hilarious, seeing as how most of the bots on base had heard about how Ironhide had "made a move on the human femme." Elita and Arcee were forbidden to know about the incident, solely for his safety, and none of the humans had been told, as William Lennox would not be pleased that his sister had been violated by an alien.

Ironhide rolled his optics. **Curse my one-track processor! **He entered his quarters, which had been cleaned after the prank pulled earlier that deca-cycle. Forming his cannons he started to polish them, trying to get his processor off his current problem. Instead, he thought about Marissa.

There was no doubt that Sunny would go through with his threat if he didn't apologize to her, but if he did, he faced the imminent possibility that Marissa would find out what exactly it all _meant_. Also, his actions had been completly unacceptable, he could only imagine how the quick-to-anger femme would react. He wanted more than anything to be with her, Primus forbid that she didn't want to be with him. That awakened a fear, deep inside his spark, the fear of rejection. The "what-ifs'" bombarded him, relentlessly. Suddenly he retracted his cannons and groaned from the turmoil inside him.

He opened a private communications link with Jazz. _"I can't do this."_

Jazz radioded back to him, full of sympathy for the troubled bot. _"Tha's OK man, hold on a bit, I got an idea."_

Ironhide wondered briefly just what Jazz was up to until he was radioed once again. Jazz seemed pleased with himself as he told Ironhide: _"Kay, 'Rissa's on her way."_

_"WHAT?"_

Jazz laughed through the link. _"Ya can't lay 'round waitin' for sumthin' ta' happen, ya gotta make it happen."_

_"You just can't make these things happen Jazz!"_

_"Sure ya can! I jus' did!"_

Ironhide clenched and unclenched his fists in anxiety. _"Jazz, I don't want her to find out _this_ way."_

_"Ya can't help tha'! Its your own fault anyways!"_

_"I would do it over if I could!"_

Ironhide could almost feel Jazz smirking. _"Tell 'er tha.'"_

_"Oh, your so_ helpful_ Jazz."_

_"Youz welcome."_

Ironhide glared in the general direction of Jazz's quarters. _"Frag off."_

_"OK, guess I'll just go inta' recharge then. Good luck wit your femme."_

_"Wait. I don't know what to say."_

More laughter. _"Awww 'Hide, youz in trouble..."_

_"Don't make me come over there and show you just how much I appreciate your help," _Ironhide growled

_"Fine, what do ya wanna say?"_

_"Well I do have to apologize..."_

_"True, but I think ya should wait till afta' ya say wha' needs ta be said. Don' want 'er ta get upset 'fore she realizes __da reason ya kissed 'er."_

_"Kissed?"_

_"Yeah, would be da human equivalent ta touchin' for'eads, ya know?"_

_"Oh..." _Ironhide stared at the floor, his voice trailing off.

_"Wha? Somethin' wrong?"_

_"I was wondering...How did you...You know, do stuff the human way?"_

Jazz snickered. _"I'll explain it to ya 'nother time. Course tha time'll neva come if ya don' tell 'er."_

Ironhide turned his attention toward the door. He spoke in a commanding voice, as if he were ordering himself: _"I'll do it. I'm ready. When is she coming?"_

Jazz seemed reluctant to answer him. _"Eh, 'bout tha. She ain't comin'."_

_"You mean you lied to me," _Ironhide said accusingly.

_"Now see, dere's this thing humans call a white lie."_

Ironhide growled. He was partly relieved that Marissa wouldn't be coming but also angry at Jazz for decieving him, even if it was to help him. _"Fragger," _he called his friend.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000

~~Marissa walked beside the pink and purple femmes she had come to know very well. Well enough to know when something was bothering them. The femmes had stopped to glare at a group of mechs.

"What's got you two so uptight?"

Elita vented. "I've got the feeling that we aren't being told about something."

Arcee nodded and Marissa glanced at the group of mechs on the tarmac. Optimus, Jazz, and Ironhide stood in a circle, staring at each other.

Marissa guessed what they were doing. "Internal communications?"

"Yes, but because they're using a private link, we can't hear what they're talking about."

Arcee observed the group with interest as Jazz seemingly laughed at nothing. "A shame too, looks like an interesting conversation."

Marissa tilted her head. "I think they are picking on Ironhide. How do they get away with that?"

Elita started moving towards a large hangar again, which had been their previous destination. The mechs had noticed them watching. "Jazz is an old friend of 'Hide's, as is Optimus. Gives them both some leeway."

"Oh. So why doesn't he squash me? We're not exactly friends."

Arcee shrugged her shoulder plates. "I guess he doesn't want to upset Prime. He specifically asked him to leave you alone. Seen it earlier this solar-cycle."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Optimus must have heard about yesterday then."

"What did he do? You never got to tell us what happend after he onlined."

Marissa waited until they had entered the hangar before answering Arcee. "He came after us but we split up and he followed me. I tripped on the field and he picked me up like he was trying to make a point without really hurting me though." She clenched her fist and held it up close to her face. Then she mocked Ironhide and growled at the appendage. "You prank me again and I'll step on you!"

Arcee laughed at her joke but Elita stopped again. "He said that?"

Marissa giggled. "No, he didn't say anything. He might have though, if Sunny hadn't punched him."

Elita wheeled around to stare intensely at the human. "Why did Sunstreaker punch him?"

Marissa wondered why Elita was so upset but waved it off as common curiosity, even though the femme's expression showed something more like worry. "I don't know, he wouldn't tell me." She frowned, it was true that she had pestered him and was quite worried for her guardian. Ironhide may not be the kindest being in the universe, but she cared for him. She couldn't think of anyone she knew personally that she didn't care for.

Elita seemed to be thinking deeply about something but quickly became alert when a loud crash came from somewhere in the hangar. Elita and Arcee raced over to the source of the sound with Marissa tailing behind. They found the younger twins nursing dents on their armor and Ratchet standing sternly over them with a bot-sized wrench.

The medic's annoyed voice boomed at them. "You two both have slag for your processors! Get out of this hangar before you hurt the humans!"

The twins trooped out of the hangar, both muttering profanities. Marissa was shocked by their usage of human terms, none of the other bots cursed in English. And they sure were creative...

Ratchet walked over to them and grumbled: "they broke my communicator, what's next? My whole med bay?"

Elita smirked at him. "Jolt has been hailing you, though I'm sure he just wants to ask you where to place the new supplies."

Ratchet grunted and said in a rambling manner: "first Prime calls a pointless meeting, then the twins get in a fight that_ I_ have to break up, now Jolt wants to be a pain in my aft too!"

Elita asked suspiciously: "what meeting? We didn't know there was a meeting."

Ratchet rubbed the back of his helm. "Well I guess you weren't supposed to know there was," he said sarcastically, then he said to himself: "along with a few other things," but it came out louder than intended.

Elita and Arcee looked strangely at each other and Ratchet made to leave. Instead he almost stepped on Marissa. She yelped and ran to the other side of Elita while the medic jumped as if bitten. He set his foot down carefully and vented. "Primus, I didn't know you were even in here! The humans will be the death of me!"

Marissa laughed at him, despite almost being made a human pancake. Elita stood in front of her protectively, and Marissa mused that she was making sure Ratchet didn't try to squash her again. The pink femme growled at him: "watch it Hatchet!"

The medic ignored her and looked down at Marissa. "Sorry about that, just try to be a little more alert when you're underfoot." Marissa nodded and watched the bot escape through the hangar door, though not without recieving death looks from the sisters.

Marissa shrugged at his hastiness but Elita and Arcee started talking in Cybertronian to each other. She sighed in annoyance and examined some dirt on her boots. Training was beginning to let up and she was finally studying the weapons used by military personnel. She couldn't wait to start actually working on them though, her fingers were just itching to fix something. On the last day of her break she had looked at her car and found that it required a new part to replace the one that had worn out. When she had gone to order the part though, she found she had to wait a few weeks to get it and she would only be able to work on it during her days off. **I wish I could bring it here, too bad I can't even drive it with the worn out part.**

Elita and Arcee's clicking stopped and they turned their attention back to the small human. "We have to go speak to Prime, go ahead to the twins. Maybe we'll see you later tonight before it gets too late."

Marissa frowned. She wanted to stay with the femmes tonight but they apparently were upset about missing the meeting. She said goodbye and headed to the bot's hangar, where the twins would most likely be.

~~Optimus Prime conversed with his friends and soldiers. They were coming up with a plan on how to best let Elita know that Ironhide had feelings for the human. He knew Elita wouldn't agree at first and would more than likely overreact but she was the best bot to help Ironhide besides Jazz. A femme's point of view would be needed in this situation.

Optimus searched for Elita with their bond, sensing that she was angry and confused over something. He frowned. If Elita was already in a bad mood, it would get even worse if Ironhide were to seek her counsel now. He sent an inquiry to her through the bond and she replied quickly,_ "I'm coming out to the tarmac, I need to talk to you." _Optimus frowned.

_"Would it not be better to talk in my office?"_

Elita growled._ "Oh no, I'm going to enjoy chewing you out in front of your soldiers." _She shut out the link and Optimus felt annoyed. He did not want her to do that, not with Ironhide fearing the moment he would have to confess to her. He glanced at the black and silver mechs watching him.

Ironhide looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

Optimus shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "She is coming, but she is not happy with me."

Jazz rolled his optics. "Tha crazy femme'll scrap all three o' us."

Ironhide looked mournful. "I know. That's not what scares me though."

Optimus knew what scared his friend the most. Ironhide was afraid that Marissa Lennox would reject him, and that was a possibility. Elita could also crush his hopes. If Elita believed that he didn't have a chance, that was most likely the way it was. He tried to console the mech, "I refuse to believe that your fears are real."

Ironhide's optics spoke of a silent plea, as he watched Elita and Arcee approach. Optimus stepped forward to great his bonded but she stepped away from him. She addressed him in a mannerly way, as if he were only just her commander. "Was there any importance in the meeting we were not informed of?"

Optimus stepped back in surprise. So this was what had upset her? How was she made aware of the meeting's existence?

The pink femme seemed to read his mind. "Ratchet mentioned it, he said you called it?"

Optimus nodded. He had called the meeting, on Ironhide's behalf. Ratchet, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, himself, and the weapons specialist had been made aware of the situation. As the commander he had to step in, to prevent any in-fighting incurred by Ironhide's affections. He vented at the memory of being informed in his office that the mech was in the med bay with injuries gotten from Sunstreaker's rage fit. He looked questioningly at Ironhide, giving him the choice of telling Elita the nature of the meeting or not.

Ironhide nodded to him and vented deeply. "I would tell you, but you have to promise not to overreact," he said, sounding more confident than he really was.

Elita scoffed and came closer to the black mech to stare in his optics. "I do not overreact!" She shot back angrily.

Ironhide looked at Optimus with his optics narrowed. "I told you she'd be this way!" He turned back to Elita again. "Can you calm your aft down for a cycle?"

Optimus wrapped his strong arms around the femme when she made to attack Ironhide. He lifted her off the ground and set her down by his side, yet still keeping hold of her. He looked into her optics and spoke through their bond:_ "Ironhide is trying to tell you that he touched foreheads with Ms. Lennox."_

Elita's optics darted around in confusion. "Touched...with Marissa...human?" She asked aloud, taking a moment to understand the information. She stared at Ironhide as the realization hit her. "Are you glitched?! She is human!"

Optimus sent Elita calm, understanding emotions through their bond. "I know you weren't around to witness Jazz's relationship but let me assure you, it is not as strange as it seems at first. As long as two beings love"-

"She doesn't love him! She never could! They are not the same Optimus!" Elita interrupted him, throwing his arms off of herself.

Ironhide looked down at the ground. Optimus knew that the mech understood the consequences of the differences between he and the human. He silently pleaded with Primus to give Ironhide the happiness he deserved.

Jazz, who had stood quietly all the while, observing the confrontation, finally spoke up. With his optics presumably watching Elita from behind his visor he said: "I beg ta differ. I am very confaden' tha 'Rissa will love him."

Elita cocked her head, indicating the she was listening. Jazz continued: "I 'ave seen tha she cares for 'im. Tha's all it takes."

Ironhide looked gratefully at his friend and Optimus folded his arms and watched Elita. She frowned at him. "How are you so sure?"

Jazz flashed her a grin, but Optimus knew he was hiding more behind his faceplates. He slowly turned to walk away and said: "I've had a lil' experience in tha depar'ment." He walked away from the group and Optimus rubbed his faceplates, considering the silver bot's wisdom. Jazz was one of those bots that had a positive outlook on everything, even in the worst of times. There was no doubt he knew what he was talking about as well.

Elita shook her head in disbelief. "Of course. I don't know what you three have been slipping into your energon, but _if_," she narrowed her optics at Ironhide, "in fact, she _doesn't_ love you, I expect you to let her be."

She turned to Optimus and, with exactly the same demeanor she had regarded the black mech with, said: "I will also hold you responsible for Ironhide's actions, since you so _willingly_ support him in this."

Optimus nodded solemnly and wached her and the silent, but calculating Arcee leave. He raised an optic ridge at Ironhide. The mech asked: "do you think that went bad enough?"

The Prime smiled faintly. "Could have gone worse my friend...Could have gone worse..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: **First of all: terribly sorry for the unusual delay. In my defense this chapter was hard to write and for about a week I could barely stand to think about it. At least it's finally here! And guess what happens in the next chappy! Haha, I am so unbelievably mean to Ironhide, I apologize. Nnnnoooot! I have no idea what Will's flashback is all about, I just needed them to pass some time I guess. I kept Fig alive by the way, and killed Donnelly. If I remember correctly Scorponok stabbed him in the back and dragged him into the sand. And Graham is here too!

Chapter 7

Not Just a Weapons Specialist

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000

Arcee rolled down a corridor. Her destination was Ironhide's quarters, which were closest to Prime's, near the entrance of the hangar. She slowed down when she reached his door sent a notification to his communicator, which was very much like knocking on the door, to gain permission to enter. The reply came and the door slid open. She was met by the black mech when she entered and was directed to a chair. She sat and Ironhide leaned against the wall. He studied her and she kept her faceplates blank.

He folded his large arms. "You were quiet today. I take it you agree with Elita."

Arcee shook her head and frowned. "No, I think it's wonderful that you like 'Rissa. She cares for so many Bots and humans, it would be nice if someone cared for her on a deeper level. I also have a good feeling in my spark that she'll love you."

Ironhide regarded her silently for a while. "Jazz said she cared for me. If she cares for so many why should I be any different than them?"

Arcee laughed and pointed at him. "Because you love her."

He unfolded his arms and cocked his head in confusion. "So?"

Arcee rolled her optics in annoyance. "You love her, no one else does the way you do. That makes you different."

"She has other admirers," the mech said with a bit of venom in his voice.

Arcee raised her optic ridge. She could tell who he was thinking of. "Does Zack have a spark?"

Ironhide narrowed his optics as he considered this. "So your saying that she'll love me because I have a spark and that lump of slag doesn't?"

Arcee put a palm over her optics. "No, I'm trying to prove that even though you are different, she can love you. 'Rissa knows from asking Elita and I questions that we as a species feel very deeply, humans do as well, which is just one similarity between us."

Ironhide turned to glance over some tools laid on a shelf near him with a thoughtful expression. "So we are different, but alike in some ways. Our capability to love being one."

Arcee watched him fiddle with the tools absent-processorly. Ironhide was so close to figuring this thing out. "Yes, you know this. Jazz knows it too."

She could practically see the wheels in Ironhide's helm turning. He dropped the tool he had been holding. "She could still reject me, similarities or not, I'm still a giant robot to her."

Arcee smiled at him when he turned to her. "You know that's not true, Sunny and Sides are like family to her! All you've got to do is tell her then let her decide. If she loves you, it won't matter to her. I tried to get Elita to understand this, but she wouldn't have any of it."

Ironhide grunted. "She just wants Marissa to be safe. I haven't been too good at keeping the femmes I love safe in the past." He stared at the ground as if disappointed in something or _someone_.

Arcee recalled another time when she had seen that look on the mech and she knew what he was thinking of.

_Flashback_

_Arcee's frame shuddered and her spark pounded painfully. Elita yelled in anguish next to her. Ironhide sat on the berth beside theirs with his helm in his hands. The pain in the two sister's sparks was coming from the femme laid a few berths down, with medics hovering over her ravaged form. The CMO had already given up on her but one medic still fought to save her. The others watched on and assisted however they could. A few tried to help the writhing femmes but they both knew their sister was dying, they had known from the moment they had seen Ironhide pull her out of the rubble. And it pained them to no end. _

_Arcee watched as if in a dream as Ironhide marched over to Chromia and the persistent medic. He tried to grab him but another medic pulled him back. He yelled into the medic's face: "stop it! She's hurting them!"_

_The medic looked at the femmes with remorse. Arcee reached a weak hand toward him and he came to her, seemingly forgetting his current patient. Arcee begged him silently with her optics to relive all three of their suffering. He nodded in understanding and raced back and started preparing a drug that would quickly, and without adding more pain, kill Chromia._

_While he worked Ironhide stared at Chromia. 'Cee thought numbly that his disappointed look was meant for the blue femme, but when he turned to the sisters, they realized it was all for them. Arcee locked on to his hard optics as the medic injected Chromia with the drug._

_"I'm sorry."_

_End Flashback_

Arcee shuddered and vented. "Elita told me what you said at the shooting range." Ironhide looked at her curiously. "She was kind of out of her element there. I must say, you surprised her with your changing of spark since Marissa was attacked."

Ironhide grunted. "I'm not _just_ a weapons specialist."

Arcee laughed. "I know. I think you will do a great job at taking care of 'Rissa. You've already proven yourself in my optics."

~~ Elita One sat on Optimus' berth as he lounged beside her. She vented and the Prime opened his previously closed optics to look at her. "I know you don't like this sweetspark, but don't dwell on it too much. I have told you time after time that Ms. Lennox will be in the best of hands if she chooses him."

Elita smiled at him warmly and he shifted to his side, with his hand supporting his head, then pulled her down to lay next to him. She complied and tapped his chest rhythmically with her metal fingertips, earning a deep rumble from the drowsy mech. Watching his half shuttered optics dim she thought that he always knew if something was bothering her, and he would also find a way to make it better. Spark nearly imploding on itself with the love she felt for the Prime, she knew she could never stay upset with him for very long because of his desire for her happiness.

She had finally taken the time to see things from his point of view, and even though she disagreed with him on some counts, decided to put a little faith in his judgment. The femme told her mech sincerely: "I suppose so. Guess I'm just a little worried that Ironhide won't be able to handle this. You know what happened...after Chromia."

Optimus caressed her faceplates with his other hand. "I realize this, but I think Ironhide could benefit from a relationship."

Elita nestled her helm into his shoulder to escape from his touches and murmured: "you too? 'Cee already gave me all that slag."

She shivered when Optimus moved his hand lightly down her back struts and pulled her frame closer. The femme stopped tapping his chest and he whined. "That felt nice, why did you stop?"

Elita moved to look at him. With a smirk she told him: "because you're getting too riled up and a little annoying. I came here to get some recharge without Arcee reprimanding me every chance she gets."

Optimus laughed and gazed at his femme lovingly. "I would hardly call myself too riled up, let alone annoying. And Arcee does what she must to keep you under control."

"Yes and to keep me out of recharge as well."

Optimus laughed again and curled up to Elita. Her helm rested on his chest and she vented, contentedly, listening to his systems running softly. Before long she drifted into recharge.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

~ "William."

Will looked up at the black mech who had called his name. "Yes?"

Ironhide bent low, nearly enough to come to eye-level with the human and spoke as lowly as his rough voice would go. "I require your help with something. Could we speak somewhere else?"

Will quickly glanced at Epps, who shrugged, and nodded his head. "Sure 'Hide. I'll be back guys."

He followed the Bot away from his comrades to the side of a hangar where they could obtain some sense of privacy. Ironhide knelt in the way Optimus Prime did to speak with the humans. Will understood that the Autobot leader didn't like to look down on them, but he suspected Ironhide had no such notions.

"What is it you need?" He asked.

Ironhide vented and Will was suddenly baffled when he noticed Ironhide seemed nervous. Ironhide was _never_ nervous about anything, not even before a battle. He looked at his friend expectantly. "I would like to bring Marissa's vehicle to the base so that she may repair it. It would be more efficient for her to do that during her free time on base instead of her more infrequent days off." He said stiffly.

Will gasped dramatically. "What? Ironhide performing an act of kindness? Impossible!" He laughed at the mech's expression of surprise and horror and punched his leg armor lightly. "No, it's OK 'Hide, I get it. You don't want to have to drive her everywhere."

Despite Will's reassurance, Ironhide looked uneasy. He grunted and stood up to his full height. "Yes...Well, I will require a trailer to move the vehicle."

"Of course, I know where to find one. I'll help you load the Camaro too." Will said, craning his neck now to look at the mech. "We can leave now if you like."

Ironhide nodded 'yes', and Will led the way to a trailer sometimes used to haul military vehicles and would be more than long enough to haul 'Rissa's Camaro.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 

Will stepped back from the now Camaro and wiped his hands on his black cargos. He took a final look at the car to make sure it was properly secured onto the trailer. Once satisfied, he went to the passenger side door of the black truck and rapped the window with his knuckles. The door opened and he climbed in.

"Ready?" Ironhide asked before he started his engine.

Will buckled his seatbelt and nodded his head, knowing that Ironhide could see him.

Ironhide pulled out of the driveway and started down the road between the cornstalks. The trailer followed behind him, jostling over bumps in the road every so often. Will watched the stalks pass by, noting the spot where 'Hide drove into the field a month before. Will sighed when he recalled the fear he had felt for his young daughter, thinking she was in the claws of a Decepticon. He was glad the 'Cons were laying low for awhile. The last time they had heard anything from them was three months ago, and the humans allowed themselves to hope that they had left the planet, but Ironhide had quickly shot that down. He argued that the 'Cons were just biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Will scanned the sky for aircraft absentmindedly.

Ironhide grunted and his voice boomed from the radio. "Don't worry about any 'Cons coming here. They will never enter this area without us knowing."

Will looked at the radio. "Why do youguys have sensors surrounding the town? Shouldn't they be around the base?"

"The extra sensors could alert us sooner, but they are not extremely necessary, Optimus uses that as an excuse to have sensors near your farm." Ironhide said nonchalantly.

Will was surprised that Optimus saw it as a priority to protect his home. Sam Witwicky, who is another ally of the Autobots has a guardian who lives with him, which is what Ironhide does for Will, but the teenager doesn't have sensors surrounding his home, besides the scans his guardian runs over the property occasionally. Now that Will thought about it, Ironhide also ran those scans. He asked the mech: "if sensors warn you guys of any Decepticons in the area, why do you still run scans at the farm?"

"..."

Will raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

"Just double checking." Ironhide said hurriedly, causing his human passenger to laugh.

Will winked at the radio and grinned. "'Hide, we appreciate your protection, wish I could return the favor though," he said warmly.

Ironhide vented in exasperation and grumbled a "you're welcome" and turned onto a main road.

Will smiled smugly and looked out the window, watching the town go by. After they passed through, he asked Ironhide if he could turn on the radio and Skillet blared out of the speakers in the cab. Will grinned. "I never figured you for a hard rock kinda Bot, 'Hide."

The song stopped abruptly when Ironhide spoke, then came back on, at a lower volume so the mech could talk over it.

"Yes, this genre is pleasing to my audio receptors, if that's what you are implying. If you disapprove, I suppose I could play something else," Ironhide said, as if he could care less what music was playing in his cab.

Will suggested: "how about some country? To be honest, I pegged you as a country man...er...mech." Ironhide grunted in approval.

_"Are you over it? Bored to death? Have you had enough regret? Take a stand, raise-" _The song was cut off and was replaced with a guitar and a male voice.

_"Run your car off the side of the road, get stuck in a ditch way out in nowhere."_

The captain sat forward in his seat, a large smile spreading across his face, memories of friends and outrageous amounts of alcohol dancing like the flames of a bonfire in his eyes. "Oh 'Hide, you didn't!" He exclaimed and laughed wildly.

Ironhide made a sound like a snort and asked in a knowing voice: "something funny Will?"

Said human's eyes widened in surprise. "How do you know about that?!"

Ironhide stopped at a stop sign and the music played louder in the silence.

_"This is where the rubber meets the road, this is where the cream is gonna rise, this is where the truth don't lie."_

"How do Iknow about what?" 'Hide asked, feigning innocence.

Will pointed accusingly at the radio. "Epps told you about it didn't he? That son-of-a-bitch, he can forget about that extra helping of mystery meat now!"

"Epps didn't tell me anything, at least I'm pretty sure he didn't tell me the story tied to this song. Care to refresh my memory chips?" Ironhide said, more than likely lying to hear Will confirm the truthfulness of the story Epps told him.

Glaring, Will sighed and gave in. Who knows what Epps had told him anyways, the man was know to exaggerate when retelling stories of drunken soldiers and battles. "Fine asshole. You get your way, but don't be upset if my version is less entertaining than the version you, without a doubt, heard before," he said sourly.

Ironhide chuckled. "Actually, I heard three different versions, but before you start, I have to ask, were you really tied to a tree?" He asked, struggling not to let full on laughter escape his vocals.

"NO, I was not tied to a tree." Lennox said quickly.

"How are you so sure you weren't? Let alone be sure of _anything_ that occurred while you were so over-energized," Ironhide said playfully.

Will pouted, knowing that Ironhide could very well be correct. Forget hearing his version, truthfully, he only remembered what he did during the song, for some odd reason. "Whatever 'Hide, can I just get to the story?" He asked, halfheartedly flipping the radio the bird. Ironhide grunted in response and Will started his story.

Flashback:

_Epps, two soldiers named Graham and Figueroa (or Fig), and Will sat in the sand around a bonfire drinking. A radio played country music, accompanied with the waves crashing on to the beach and they stared into the fire with solemn faces._

_Epps raised his bottle and said: "to Donnelly."_

_Fig nodded in agreement and raised his. "To Donnelly." _

_Graham and Will brought their bottles to clink against the other's and copied their words. They all downed their bottles and more were retrieved from a nearby cooler. _

_"I know no one wants to hear this but, I can't believe he's gone," Graham said, turning away from the fire to look back at the base, more specifically, the barracks._

_Will shot him a 'shut up' look, but followed his gaze. Then he stood up. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to mourn him the only way he would have wanted us to. I'm going to have fun."_

_Epps jumped up and fist pumped Lennox. "Damn straight!"_

_Will downed his drink again as the other two men stood. "Fig! Turn that shit up!" He yelled suddenly._

_"iSi a Senior!" Fig exclaimed and obeyed, turning the volume dial up on the radio. A country song blasted out and Will opened another bottle._

"You find out who your friends are, somebody's gonna drop everything, run out and crank up their car. Hit the gas, get there fast, never stop to think what's in it for me or it's way too far."

_Epps laughed aloud as Will danced out of time with the music around the fire. He yelled at his friend: "no way you're that drunk already!"_

_Figs shook his head in disbelief. "I gave him some Tequila, looked like he needed it. I didn't think he'd drink so much of it."_

_Will tripped in the sand and landed face first in it, Graham pulled him up and he spat sand out of his mouth. He growled at the man who helped him up. "Who the hell pushed me?"_

_Graham rolled his eyes. "It may have been Epps. That, or you're a clumsy idiot." He released Will, who picked up his fallen bottle and took a sip. He brought it away from his mouth with sand coating his lips. "Ashhole," he said , slurring a little._

_Epps sighed and stood in front of Will. "You'll thank me for this tomorrow. Eventually." He glanced at Graham, who nodded, and punched his drunken friend in between the eyes._

End Flashback

"_Primus_ Will! What convinced you it would be a good idea to drink this 'Tequila' if it is so potent?!" Ironhide exclaimed and laughed heartily. Or sparkily?

Will's face went red in embarrassment and he chuckled. "I don't know 'Hide, to be fair I had been drinking before the fire was even built. I guess I got into it somewhere between lighting it and the so coined 'drunken Will incident'," he said.

Ironhide vented. "It was a good thing you did though. Sending off his spark like that," he said quietly.

Will nodded slowly. "It was what he would've wanted, and it was the least we could do. They never found his body..." He said, and was lost for a moment in fond memories of his fallen comrade.

"That's less than what most Cybertronians got when the War took their lives. And at least your friend can be remembered with cheer," Ironhide said with remorse.

Will didn't reply. The song that started the conversation was long over and he suddenly couldn't wait to get back to the base, to pay Epps, Graham, and Figueroa back for squealing to his guardian, and to surprise 'Rissa with her Camaro. His anticipation heightened as the base came into view.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000

**Note: **Sorry if you are not a fan of country or Skillet. The songs are _You Find Out Who Your Friends Are_ and_ Sick of it_. Country was my first love, Pop was my second, Electronic my third and Hard Rock my fourth.

Next chapter will continue from where this chapter left off in Ironhide's point of view. Read and review!


	9. AN

It will be quite a bit longer until Chapter Nine is posted, because I am going on a month long vacation. I will get the chapter done during that time so I can post it when I come back. :)

I hope you guys like it! I was thinking of putting a sneak peek up, and here is a little snippet.

* * *

Ironhide vented. **It's now, or never. **"OK. So are you really curious about why?"

Marissa nodded her head eagerly. "Yeah." He watched her face, as he contemplated on the plan he had been thinking about all day. **Primus, Cybertronian faceplates couldn't touch her. **Ironhide glanced at the twins again; they still held their glares.

* * *

Yeah, so it doesn't take a Seeker to guess what's going on next chappy. Can't wait to get it up here for you guys! And I might get some inspiration from the beautiful mountains I'm visiting! Wish me luck!

Also, thanks to Autobotgirl2234 for all those reviews! It was surprising to see that the number of reviews had increased so much, I couldn't wait to read them all! **A little hint though, the gravesite was not her dad's, although, I thought it was amusing that you had guessed it was her dad because he _did _die, but when Marissa was very young. So she doesn't remember him, but Will does because he is the older sibling. So no, not her dad. Everything will be explained, Amy's story will be explored further and so will Chromia's.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Note: ****This chapter was so hard to write so I hope everyone appreciates it. I eventually had to enlist the help of Bee4ever to make sure you guys could read it without going "whhhaaat?" like a Minion. Just kidding, there was only error. Speaking of awesome movies...Who is excited about _Predacons Rising_ and the new Bay movie _Age of Extinction_? I am! Without further ado: **

Ironhide waited for Will to bring Marissa outside to see that they had brought her Camaro to the base. He leaned against his truck form casually, though his thoughts were all but casual. Should he tell her now? The twins had been casting vague comments through the comm. all day, but he knew they were waiting for him to come out with it. They wanted to see him get rejected, then they would make his life a living Pit for the next deca-cycle. He vented and turned his attention to the barrack doorway. Marissa and Will walked out and Ironhide could hear Will talking. "You're welcome 'Rissa," he said gleefully, gesturing toward the vehicle.

Marissa promptly squealed and turned to hug her brother. "My baby! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Will pushed her away lightly, and chuckled. Grinning, Marissa skipped over to the trailer and started carefully unhooking the car. Ironhide glanced at Will for a moment, fighting his own grin. Will's eyes widened for a moment in surprise, and Ironhide could only guess what he was thinking, but moved to help Marissa.

"You should be thanking Ironhide, it was his idea," Will said slyly. **_Slag_**, Ironhide thought, as Marissa looked over at him, as if just noticing that he was there. Her face was all smiles as she said "thanks Hide!"

Ironhide grunted and ducked his head. "Was nothing."

Marissa looked back at Will. "I got this, you go tell Epps and the guys that you're back," she ordered. "They were all griping about something or another after you left on your _errand._" Will nodded and waved goodbye to Ironhide. He wasn't halfway to his barracks when he yelled "EPPS!"

Ironhide chuckled quietly and stepped back from the trailer as Marissa backed her non-sentient vehicle down the ramp and onto the ground. When she was clear, he moved over to the trailer to put up the ramp.

Marissa, however exited the vehicle and got to the ramp at the same time he did. "Let, me help," she said, and lifted the ramp with him. He locked it into place as he had seen Will do and looked quizzically at Marissa. She smiled and put her hands behind her back shyly. "I don't know why you did this for me, but I'm going to find out. And then repay you."

Ironhide shook his head. "You do not need to repay me," he replied, though he wasn't surprised when Marissa pushed the issue further.

"I can sure as hell try, though," she said, grinning. He was about to refuse, when he looked over Marissa's shoulder and saw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe staring at him from over by the med bay. The twins sent a very clear message.

Ironhide vented. **It's now, or never. **"OK. So are you really curious about why I did it?"

Marissa nodded her head eagerly. "Yeah." He watched her face, as he contemplated on the plan he had been thinking about all day. **Primus, Cybertronian faceplates couldn't touch her. **Ironhide glanced at the twins again; they still held their glares.

~~Hide?"

Ironhide's eyes quickly snapped back to her. She raised an eyebrow questioningly and fear briefly flickered across the holoform's face. He then slouched, in defeat Marissa thought, and began talking hurriedly.

"I have never seen anything as beautiful as you on this planet or my own. The things I have seen during the Quest for the Allspark pale in comparison to you." Ironhide paused and Marissa slowly processed what he was saying. Each word hit her like a brick wall, disbelief already rising

He continued. "I dismissed the possibility as soon as I met you, when my spark began to beat faster, and when I caught myself admiring you. But I know now. I am so very badly, in love with you." Ironhide began to look pained at the end of his short speech, and Marissa noticed.

A need grew somewhere deep inside of her. The need to touch the mouth that the wonderful words came out of. The words that made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. She needed to touch that mouth - those lips, with her own. Her disbelief was unceremoniously pushed away and a strange rushing feeling filled her head.

As if in a daze, she slowly moved toward Ironhide. He took a step back but Marissa raised her head to his. Her lips ghosting across his, she froze and moved back as if bitten. The rushing in her head was gone, and she stared at Ironhide. He stared back for a moment and Marissa couldn't think of anything to say in the current situation.

"I-um. I'll just...leave you to it then?" Ironhide stuttered, backing away. His holoform disappeared and his black truck form rolled away hurriedly with the trailer bouncing along behind.

Marissa leaned back against her Camaro and put her palms to her head and began massaging her temples. "Oh fuck." She was, undeniably, in love with him.

**I shouldn't be too surprised though, she thought. Life has a tendency to screw me a lot.** She smiled in spite of the circumstances.** Just like guys have a tendency to surprise me. And 'Hide didn't disappoint. He's just a different kind of guy.** Really different.

0000000000000000000

~ Sideswipe rolled toward the barracks on his wheeled pedes. Marissa had enlisted the help of a soldier named Fig to push her vehicle to a spot near the mechanic's garage. He watched their efforts and wondered if the joking demeanor she displayed for Fig was a cover up for her true emotions.

Sideswipe had a growing suspicion that Marissa would fall in love with Ironhide one way or another. It almost seemed like they were made for each other.

Sideswipe externally scoffed. Though, once he thought again he pondered wether or not a human and Cybertronian could be destined for each other. There was Amy, but Jazz had never told anyone if he wanted to bond with her, as if they could. Sideswipe might not be a scientist but he knew bonds.

Amy. He had come to Earth about a month before she was killed by the Cons. He covered his optics with one hand, remembering.

_Flashback:_

_"So Fleshy, what do think of my alt mode?" Sideswipe posed to show off his sleek armor._

_Amy looked up at him critically. "Eh, it's okay."_

_Sunstreaker, who sat in his alt mode nearby laughed as Sideswipe gasped and examined his form._

_"Okay? What do mean by that?!"_

_Amy put a hand to her chin like an artist inspecting their own work. "Well...I think it would look better if it were a Lambo." She gestured to Sunstreaker. "Like Sunny's!"_

_Sunstreaker transformed and leaned on his brother's shoulder plate. "I told you to go with the (Lambo model)."_

_Sideswipe pushed his brother away, eliciting panicked cries of "my paint!" and kneeled down to bring his face close to Amy's. "Well, I have no idea what is so great about you. You fleshies are so revolting, Jazz should go see Ratch because he's got a horrible virus in his processor."_

_Amy smirked and sighed. "You don't know do you?"_

_Both twins looked at her expectantly. "What?"_

_Still wearing that smirk, Amy turned on her heel and walked in the direction of the Autobot's hangar, where she had shared quarters with Jazz. Sunny and Sideswipe followed her eagerly, thinking that she was going to take them somewhere more private so she could tell them whatever they didn't know yet._

_Sideswipe brought up ideas in his processor of what it could be. Was this all an elaborate prank on someone? Was Amy trying to burn an ex mate? Was Jazz's processor really addled?_

_Amy reached the human-sized door to her quarters and without a backwards glance to the twins, went inside and slammed the door. Sideswipe waited patiently to be let in from the 'Bot-sized door with Sunny. After five minutes of standing at the unopened door, Sunstreaker vented._

_"She's not going to open the door is she?"_

_"No."_

_End Flashback_

Sideswipe was pulled from his thoughts by a soldier rapping his knuckles on a metal piece attached to his foot.

"Hey Sideswipe, I think something's wrong with Marissa. I can't find Will, but someone should talk to her."

Sideswipe noticed that Marissa and her vehicle were gone then alerted his twin and looked back down at the soldier. "Thank you Figeroura, I will see to her."

Fig nodded and Sides wheeled around him. His twin met him on the way to the storage hangar where his sensors told him Marissa was.

Sunstreaker vibrated anger and he growled through their spark bond. _"I knew this was going to happen, we should have took care of Ironhide before."_ Sides grabbed Sunny's shoulder plate and spat fluid in his faceplates.

_"How do you figure we could even take him? And Prime would lock us up! Sure, Marissa's safety is important but you've forgotten that she will be out there with us! She'll be in danger even if she isn't with 'Hide. At least he'll be able to help us keep an eye on her."_

Sunstreaker pushed his brother away. _"What are you saying?"_

Sideswipe vented and cast a pained glance at the storage hangar. "_I'm saying that their is nothing we can do. If they want to be together, then that's that."_

0000000000000000000

Marissa sat with her chin resting on her knees on top of a tank that had taken irreparable damage from a Decepticon. The storage hangar housed many things that had been discarded and forgotten by the NEST soldiers. Sometimes, a section of the hangar was cleared out, only to make room for something else.

Marissa gazed at the objects around the tank. After moving her Camaro she had left Fig by the barracks instead of going inside and crawling into her bunk. Ironhide was still on her mind and the more she thought about it, she became more sure of her feelings. She wasn't about to deny it- no she knew better than that, but what would everybody else think? The opinions of others weren't usually important to her-except when she was trying a dish at a new restaurant, though this was an entirely different ballpark. Ironhide was...Cybertronian. Even the name of his species sounded alien. Did she even find him attractive? Besides his holoform of course.

Sighing, Marissa gave up on that line of thinking. The holoform was not Ironhide, the huge robot that turned into a truck was Ironhide, as well as the spark inside of the robot. Her usage of the term "robot" brought back a memory from her first time on base.

_"We are not merely robots," Ratchet scoffed._

Marissa knew now that Ratchet was right. They were Cybertronians, sentient beings, beings with the ability to love.

A noise came from the entrance of the storage hangar and her head shot up. Two voices snapped at each other harshly. Marissa stood up on top of the tank and peered over the junk. A blonde teen in an impeccable yellow jacket came out from behind some plastic containers and she relaxed. "Sunny, over here!"

The teen looked over and waved over his twin. The two made their way to the tank without much difficulty. "What are you doing in here? You should be in bed," Sunny asked, sitting down with Marissa.

Marissa's smile faltered. "I'm thinking," she said quietly.

Sideswipe put an arm around her shoulders and Sunny's blue eyes darkened.

Marissa gasped with realization. "You guys knew didn't you?"

Sideswipe nodded. "We did, but don't be angry. We're not going to pressure you to do anything."

Marissa glanced at a steaming Sunstreaker. "Uh-uh."

Sunny caught her eyes and sighed. "I would prefer you to stay away from him, but if we can not stop you from doing the opposite of what we would like."

Marissa snorted. "Really? Because last time I checked, you guys were giant 'Bots that can make me do anything under the threat of your seven-foot swords. That and your big, clumsy feet."

Sunny appeared to lighten up and flashed his movie-star-white teeth. "Oh yeah."

In the awkward silence that followed, Marissa reflected on her relationship with the twins. She loved them like family, similar to how she felt with the femmes. Surely it was possible to love a 'Bot like a - wait, she thought. Hide hadn't even asked me out.** Ugh, I need to get to sleep. Hide can wait for tomorrow, when I'm thinking more clearly.** In evidence of her tiredness, Marissa yawned.

The twins stared each other for a moment, and Sunny nodded. Sides stood from his kneeling position and stooped to gather his adopted sister on his arms.

She tried to protest, but was promptly hushed. Still, she grumbled half-heartedly "I'm not a child, you know."

Sideswipe, showing no sign of effort from carrying Marissa snorted as he eased himself down from the tank. "No, but you are a lot younger than us. We were surprised by how mature humans can become in such a short time. And the carrying is protocol for much older siblings. In case of an event where a sparkling's creators are not present, the eldest will take their place until they return or, in the worst cases, until volunteers can be assigned to care for the orphans."

Marissa mulled over this. Yet another example of how deep Cybertronians' love went. She considered their long lifespans and it made sense. A disturbing thought reached her and she asked Sides about it: "do sparklings get orphaned a lot?"

She felt him flinch at the question. Sunny, who was ahead of them at the entrance looked back with an expression that would make any sane man turn around.

Marissa figured that this was a sensitive topic and opened her mouth to apologize but Sideswipe spoke.

"It wasn't completely unheard of, but it wasn't usual - before the war that is. Before, it happened when the creators were fatally injured by some work related mishap, or even a force of nature. It was always: a mech got crushed in the mines, or got caught too long in the acid rain." He paused and sighed. "The rarest case of that time would be abandonment, but in the earliest stages of the war many sparklings and younglings were left to fend for themselves. Left to scour the alleys of Kaon for what little energon there was to be spared."

Marissa stared at Sideswipe and had a horrible feeling that the Bot knew what he was talking about very well. She wanted to ask him but knew that this was not a good time.

In the twins' quarters, where she had ultimately ended up despite request to walk on her own to the barracks, she was informed that she would stay with the twins for protection, she was told, though Marissa knew that it was an attempt at comfort by the twins. On a Bot-sized stand, human-sized blankets and pillows were placed, to make a semi-comfortable bed. Sunny and Sides recharged in their bipedal forms on two giant beds/berths strategically placed across from the entrance.

The twins told her goodnight and turned off the lights with a mental command and lay down on the berths and Marissa reluctantly closed her eyes.

0000000000000000000

~~ Ironhide came out of recharge slowly. The fogginess of recharge clouded his processor as he reached a servo behind him to wake up his mate...a mate he suddenly remembered was not there, and would never be. He was on Earth, fighting Decepticons while allied with the native species designated humans.

Another memory struck him with it's incredulity. He was in love with one of these humans...Marissa. Her name brought up images of an organic female, who made his spark fill with longing to have her in his arms.

His processor cleared and he rolled off of the berth. Yesterday was a mistake, he should have never said anything. She'd tell the twins to keep him away from her, then Will wouldn't even be able to look at him. What if Will asked Prime to reassign them a guardian? Would he ever see Sarah or Annabelle again?

Ironhide groaned. That would be his sentence, he was sure of it. Marissa would know that was the worst she could do to him, besides outright telling him that she hated him. He was sure that she must.

0000000000000000000

Marissa woke to the sound of bickering. The twins stood in what could only be described as a kitchen of sorts, holding cubes of blue liquid that Marissa understood to be energon. She sat up and two sets of aquamarine optics looked at her. Sunny downed his cube and tossed it in a waste bin. "About time you woke up!"

Marissa searched for her phone in a panic and relaxed when she saw that it was still early enough to catch breakfast and make it to the morning training session. A second look at her phone's screen showed three missed calls from her mother and one from Jamie. She glared at the twins. "Alright, which one of you put my phone on silent?"

Sideswipe finished his cube and frowned. "We didn't do it." He turned to Sunny. "But I bet I know who," he said with a grin. His brother shrugged and picked Marissa up in his huge hand.

She raised her eyebrow at Sideswipe but received no hints. Bots are weird.

Sides carried her to the barracks and she hurried through her morning ritual of straightening her belongings, showering and putting on clean clothes. Marissa stared at herself in the mirror. Her usual outfit of a tank and cargos almost made her look like a hardened soldier, but it stopped at her cute ponytail. She turned away from the mirror to leave the bathroom but stopped and pulled her hair tie out. She looked at her reflection one last time and thought bitterly, someone to taken seriously.

On the way to training she saw Epps leading a group of jogging soldiers. The Sergeant gave her a questioning look but she just smiled at him.

Sure enough, the twins were waiting for her by the building were her classes took place. They watched her walk over to them.

Sideswipe frowned. "What's with your hair?"

"Don't you like it? I've decided that I need a change," she retorted.

Sunstreaker folded into his Lamborghini alt mode and his holoform stepped out of the car and over to Marissa. He played with the strands framing her face. "I like it, makes you look...more..."

Marissa brushed his hand away curtly. "Serious?"

Sunny stared at her for a moment a shook his head. "No, more like Will." He dissipated and transformed back into bipedal mode.

Sideswipe vented and was pulled along by his twin as they walked away.

Marissa heard Sunny say "she dosen't need us" glumly and hurriedly entered the building before her emotions got the best of her.

The instructor announced the she would be firing weapons today when she walked in and mentally groaned.

_Just what I need, Ironhide kicked out of the firing range for a whole day._

~~ Ironhide terminated the comm. he'd just received. The shooting range was off limits today, and he was to see Prime in his office at 0600.

What the frag did Prime want him for? He had had a plan laid out for the whole day. Avoid everyone and shoot stuff, but "nooo". He couldn't even go to the shooting range today.

He opened his door with a mental command and stomped out into the hallway. Skids and Mudflap stared at him as he walked purposefully past them. If Prime wanted to talk to him he could do it now, there was no way he was going to wait an hour in his quarters until he could be chewed out. That's probably what Optimus had in mind, and he knew exactly what it would be about. Ironhide was beginning to wish that he had kept his mouth shut-and not to mention to himself. He hadn't had a chance to process the strange "kiss" yet but his mouthplates tingled with the memory of Mariss's lips against his holoform's. Though his mistake in the field made his helm hurt when he recalled it, unfortunately.

He shook his helm as he entered the office section, having just left the quarters section. (The building was built by the Bot's, as close as they could get to Cybertronian standards.) Optimus' office was in the middle of the hall, and was probably the second safest place on the NEST base-first being Optimus's quarters, and third, Ironhide's.

Ironhide stopped at Jazz's office though. He could hear voices, one of them Prime's and presumably the other was Jazz's.

On impulse, Ironhide's audio receptors made an almost hushed click as an audio amplifier fell into place. **_Ratch would positively offline me if he found out I had one of these._**

Ironhide recalled a lecture from Autobot medics from the early stages of the war, _"audio amplifiers, while useful, sometimes damage the audios of those who use them too frequently."_

He chuckled softly and got closer to Jazz's door. The voices became clear.

~~ Jazz vented and scrolled down on the data-pad he held. "With that out of 'da way, I got a report on 'da guy Sunny an' Sides asked you ta' track down. Seems this is 'da same guy that attacked 'Rissa."

Optimus, who stood by the desk rubbed the faceplates between his optics. "What a surprise, any thing else?"

Jazz read on. "Yeah, got his info. 1985 Green Street, righ' over there in town. There's a phone number, license plate number and everythin' else someone's personal stalker would know."

Optimus raised his eyebrows and searched "personal stalker" on the internet. "Thank you Jazz, humor aside, I think you know that it would not be in our best interest to divulge these details to the twins, Ironhide, or anyone else."

"Of course."

~~ Ironhide's tires squealed across the road as he left the NEST base behind. He already had the address plugged into a GPS.


End file.
